Ardent Deception
by Orodruin
Summary: It's about five months since the end of the game, Squall Leonhart has been forced into the role of an international icon and out of active duty. He finally gets the opportunity to go on another mission, but things quickly take a turn for the worst.
1. I

Summary: It's about five months since the end of the game, Squall Leonhart has been forced into the role of an international icon and out of active duty. He finally gets the opportunity to go on another mission, but what happens when things go wrong and he's taken prisoner? Will Squall's friends find him? And what happens when it seems he doesn't want to be found?

Story includes a little bit of every genre, I think. There is a bit of Squall/Rinoa and Irvine/Selphie but the romance is in the background.

Disclaimer: I do not own Squall, or anything else from the Final Fantasy game, I only own this plot, but that's enough for me. The whole world belongs to Square! Happy reading, I hope you like it.

Note: This is the updated version of Chapter 1 which completely changes the mood in which this story is set. So, if you have already read chapter one... Well, go ahead and read it again! Just about every scene has been changed.

**_Ardent Deception_**

**I.**

Squall glared out the window behind Headmaster Cid's desk. He had received a message the night before to report in first thing in the morning and had already been waiting for one and a half hours. He wished he could just leave, but was afraid that the moment he did Cid would walk in and he would get in trouble for not showing up.

At last the doors behind him opened and the middle-aged Headmaster of Balamb Garden entered. He smiled at Squall as he walked around his desk—although the gesture seemed forced.

"Good morning, Squall," He greeted, quickly glancing over the papers on his desk.

Squall snapped off a quick salute and returned the greeting, "Good morning, sir."

"Just Cid is fine, Squall," the man insisted for the hundredth time, "You're Commander now and besides, we are in private, there is no need to stand on ceremony."

"What did you need to talk to me about?" Squall asked, cutting to the chase as always.

Cid smiled a little at the teen's predictable behavior, "Yes, well… Squall your wish has been granted." He said, carefully watching the brunette for any change in attitude. He was disappointed to see only the strictly stoic SeeD but continued anyway, "I have a mission for you." He paused again, mulling over what else to say.

"Now, I know I said you weren't going to be on active duty for some time still, but I just can't send anyone else for this one." He continued, pausing to see what Squall would have to say to this.

Quickly realizing a reply was expected, Squall managed a monotone: "I understand, sir."

"It isn't an ordinary mission," Cid continued, "you'll be on your own. It's an espionage mission, Squall. It's imperative that you're not seen; the party you'll be spying on is known to be very dangerous and we don't want to lose you.

"More than that, I can't tell you right now. You'll receive the rest of your briefing on the train, which you'll be catching out tonight, the 23.00 to Timber." Cid paused once more, "Oh, and I'm sure I hardly need to tell you this, but it is a top secret mission, you're not to tell anyone about your departure. I will take care of your friends missing you later."

"Yes, sir." Squall responded covering up a smirk of amusement himself at the look of annoyance on Cid's face caused by his formality.

"Until then you're to go about the day as normal, don't let on that anything's amiss. Dismissed." Squall gave the Headmaster another salute and walked to the door. "Oh, and Squall," Cid added, stopping the SeeD as he was opening the door. Squall turned back to give him his attention again, "Good luck, in case I don't see you again."

A hint of worry seeded itself in Squall's stomach but the Headmaster squashed its bloom by smiling and finishing his statement, "Before your departure."

Squall nodded and managed to give the Headmaster a small smile in return before heading back out the door and down to his first class.

* * *

Squall grunted as the large tail of a T-Rexaur slammed into his body. His feet hardly skidded as he used the momentum to push himself off the ground and jump towards the creature, tearing his gunblade across it in a lightening fast movement. The lizard let out a cry of pain as its body collapsed. In a last futile effort it snapped its jaws at Squall but the agile SeeD easily dodged the monsters dying attack. 

The SeeD stepped back and gave his sword a quick jerk, sending the majority of the blood flying off the blade, then swiftly wiped a cloth along its length. He turned his head at the sound of movement behind him, every muscle in his body tensing up.

"Yo, Squall!" The teen in question quickly turned his attention back to his weapon and finished wiping off a last few stains of blood before slipping it back in its sheath.

"Squall!" The blonde called again, running over to him, "Hey, didn't you hear me?"

"What do you need, Zell?" Squall asked, turning to face his friend again with an inaudible sigh. Everywhere he had went today it seemed like the blonde martial artist was right behind him.

"You want some company?" Zell asked, bouncing on the balls of his feet and punching the air, "I have a few more hours to fill my quota this week."

Squall shook his head, "It's getting late. I'm going to turn in."

"Aw man," Zell sighed, dropping his head. Recovering almost immediately he shrugged, "Alright, man. I'll see you tomorrow."

Squall replied with an unintelligible grunt before walking past Zell towards the exit. Zell didn't seem the least bit bothered by this and pushed forward into the training center, eager to find some prey.

Squall reached his dormitory at 21.30 and headed immediately to the shower to rinse off the sweat and blood that covered him from his time in the TC. He stopped suddenly as he entered the adjoining bathroom that was one of his new liberties as Commander and quickly retraced his steps until he was once again standing in front of his bed. Sure enough something was not right. A pile of neatly folded clothes was stacked on the end of the bed with a note lying on top. Squall picked up the paper and flicked it open.

"I forgot to mention one thing earlier; as this is a covert operation you will not be able to wear your own clothes. You're an international icon, you'd be recognized in an instant. Please find the clothes accompanying this note; if you have any problems with the size, contact Xu immediately."

Squall picked up the clothes. Dark blue jeans with a hole in one knee, a long sleeved forest green shirt and a stocking hat of a slightly darker shade of green. He sighed and took them into the bathroom with him.

A half an hour later Squall had successfully made his way out of Garden, avoiding every single camera and every single guard. Cid had said it was a covert mission and Squall had made sure no one would even know he was gone until well into the next day. He didn't even allow himself time to reflect on this small victory though, the mission was far from over.

Squall made it to the Balamb Train Station a few minutes before the train was scheduled to depart. He bought his ticket and got onto the train with no one noticing anything amiss. It was the only train departing at this time of night and he was pleased when no one seemed to recognize him.

Opening the door to the inner compartment of the train with his ticket, Squall couldn't help but think of Selphie. She'd probably be mad at him for going on a train without her. He, personally, didn't particularly like trains. They were too loud and crowded, but, thankfully, as a SeeD he didn't have to worry about the latter as he received a private room.

Inside the small room, Squall's eyes quickly fell on a yellow folder in the middle of the small coffee table. He immediately picked it up and opened it as he sat on the couch.

Egeslics.

Leader:

Size:

Squall frowned seeing the many blanks on the pages, it seemed there was hardly anything known about this gang or whatever they were. He casually flipped through the pages until he found what he was looking for, it was the mission briefing for him.

Squall, as you now know, very little is known about the Egeslics—as they call themselves. Three SeeDs have already been dispatched to gather information, the most recent over three weeks ago, none have returned which is why we are sending you—only the best.

The group started as only a minor annoyance in Galbadia, but what started as bombed garages and drive-by shootings has escalated enough for the government to recruit our help. Their most recent act of terrorism was the destruction of a train five days ago; the train, which started in Timber, exploded just after it entered the train station in Deling City. Over 250 passengers and bystanders were killed including a handful of high ranking military officers.

The President thinks they may be hiding out in Timber, you are to gather information from the locals or other sources you can find. Be careful, it's obvious these terrorists are no longer playing around, they're a deadly group. If the occasion arises that you are taken prisoner… Do what you think best.

Sqaull frowned, that was rather open ended, Shifting through the rest of the folder's contents he found a small vial. Carefully, he opened the lid and sniffed cautiously at the contents. He started with surprise: poison. There was no question as to what this was meant for; he slipped it away in a hidden pocket at the bottom of his pants. Hopefully it wouldn't come to that.

* * *

Squall stalked the Timber streets with irritation, his boots thudding on the cobblestones as he made his way around town in the growing dusk. 

A group of children lingering on the front steps of the Timber Maniacs building scattered with one look at his face. If he hadn't been in such ill-temper he may have been amused. But after spending a week among the boneless population that made up the unorganized Timber rebel groups he didn't think anything could be worse.

Rolling his eyes Squall swiftly made his way past a couple of teenagers making out in the twilight on the bridge that overlooked the main square. Giving the unpleasant scene that only worsened his mood a wide berth, Squall took the steps down to the town square two at a time.

His evening got worse yet when he spotted Trent, an old drunkard that seemed to believe Squall was his best friend, sitting forlornly outside the bar that stood in between Squall and the post office. He tried to walk past very quietly, hoping he wouldn't be noticed.

"Ah! Clint, that you?" Squall stopped as the man drunkenly swaggered over to him, slurring his words and hiccuping a little.

"Care to join me for a drink, mate?" Trent asked, grabbing Squall's jacket to keep himself upright on unsteady feet.

(I think you've had enough already...) Squall thought dryly as he made a face at the stench of the man's breath. He fought off the urge to retch that the touch of the sticky hands on him invited and forced himself to reply, "Not tonight." He shook the man off him, wondering when he would realize that the answer was always the same.

"Aw," the man complained, drawing out the monosyllable far longer than anyone had the right to. He shuffled his feet sullenly as accompaniment but almost lost his precarious balance in the process, only saving himself a trip to the ground by grabbing Squall again.

Squall sighed aloud this time and dug a handful of gil from his pocket to place in the man's hand. "Knock yourself out, Trent," he said, knowing that money for more drinks was really the drunks only objective. "Please," he added.

Trent missed the implied insult as he always did and stumbled back toward the bar, loudly proclaiming to the whole empty street what a great guy his "buddy Clint" was.

Shaking his head with disgust Squall walked into the post office and right up to the counter. He placed a small envelope on the counter as well as the required sum of gil.

"Last one in again, eh, Clint?" The old postman greeted, the wrinkles on his slim face rearranging themselves into a smile.

Squall nodded curtly.

"Same place as last time?" The man asked in a kind tone as he gathered up the money and envelope.

Squall nodded again.

The old man chuckled to himself as he filled out a receipt form. He presented it to Squall once he had signed the bottom. "Nice chatting with you," he said with a wink between more chuckles.

Squall ignored the sarcasm, "Good evening, Mr. Vector."

Charging swiftly back out into the growing night, Squall made his way to the train station where he had already procured his ticket to Deling City earlier that day.

* * *

Squall walked out of the Waltzer Bar after a particularly helpful chat with his chief informer, Craeg. Cold air pumped with exhaust fumes filled his lungs immediately, a welcome change from the smoky din inside the bar. He walked through the dark, semi-crowded back streets with his hands almost twitching at his sides and his head trying to look every direction at once. 

Last night some unfortunate petty thief had tried to hold him up for his wallet with a knife. Squall wondered when the kid would be released from intensive care.

Even with his alertness it took Squall longer than he would have liked to realize he was being followed by two large men that could only be described as thugs. Now that he had noticed them they stuck out like a fine piece of art might while before they had appeared no more spectacular than any other flickering neon sign or glowing graffiti on the wall.

Squall continued at the same pace as if he hadn't even noticed them but instead of heading back to the hotel he began taking turns that would lead him to the less populated areas of the city. After all, whatever ended up happening, he would rather not have witnesses to his confrontations.

Forcing himself not to cast nervous glances at the men over his shoulder as they walked, Squall found himself walking in a part of the city he hadn't been to yet. His nails dug into the palms of his hands as they were fisted tightly, (Why do I get the feeling I'm not the one choosing our battleground?)

By the time Squall and his pursuers arrived in an abandoned alley they had significantly narrowed the space in between each other. Turning to face the men, Squall held his ground, ready to reach for his gunblade if need be.

"Why are you following me?" Squall demanded, glaring between the two men.

"Just want to help, buddy," one of the men said in a gruff voice, "Heard you was askin' about the Egeslics."

Squall shook his head. They hadn't used any of the proper words his connections knew and that could only mean trouble. "You must be thinking of someone else. I'm not interested in anyone but myself."

"Oh, but I have it from a very reliable source that you're paying good money for information, Mr. Wood," the second man said, greening toothily.

Squall's eyes narrowed and his muscles tensed further, ready for action. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"Alright, enough playin' dumb," the first man said, cracking his knuckles threateningly in much the same manner as Zell before a fight, "We know who you are and we're under orders to bring you down, SeeD!"

Squall's gunblade was out and in his hands in a heartbeat. The first man was spinning a heavy chain with malice, slowly closing in on Squall. The second man picked up a steel bar from a pile of debris next to one of the buildings on either side of them, his action accompanied by the sound of metal scraping concrete.

Acting on his honed instincts, Squall spun around only to see a crowbar swinging towards his head. He nimbly jumped back, just avoiding the painful blow. More men were climbing out of the open manhole behind the ambusher, but Squall didn't give any of them a second thought after registering the fact that they were there. Instead he jumped quickly over the steel pole which had been aiming to sweep him off his feet.

Even as he landed Squall felt the cold links of the first mans chains around the front of his neck. He gagged as muscular hands yanked the chains suffocatingly tight but acted quickly, reaching over his shoulder with his open hand to grab the man behind him with the intention to flip his attacker over his back.

Before he got a chance to complete his move he was forced to use his gunblade to block a series of attacks from the pole-wielder, each more intense than the last. His grip already weakened by the lack of oxygen implemented by the chain, the second man managed to knock Squalls gunblade from his hand after a couple of hard, jarring blows.

Instead of trying to retrieve his fallen weapon, Squall concentrated on completing the move he had started earlier. He used both hands now and ducked, pulling at the man behind him with all the strength he had remaining at the same time as he kicked the mans legs out from underneath him, sending the attacker rolling over his back and bowling into his comrade. Before the SeeD was able to re-establish his bearings pain exploded at the base of his skull.

With a feeble grunt of pain Squall fell face forward onto the alleyway ground. The man with the crowbar stepped back, smirking triumphantly.

"This one put up a fight," he commented as his comrades stood up, one of them wiping blood from his mouth. "The others didn't even see me coming."

Two more guys were already picking up the SeeDs limp body. Under the supervision of the other three they lugged the dead weight back to the manhole, lowering him down to waiting hands below.


	2. II

Summary: It's about five months since the end of the game, Squall Leonhart has been forced into the role of an international icon, and out of active duty. He finally gets the opportunity to go on another mission, but what happens when things go wrong and he's taken prisoner? Will Squall's friends find him? And what happens when it seems he doesn't want to be found? 

Disclaimer: I do not own Squall, or anything else from the Final Fantasy game, I only own this plot, but that's enough for me. The whole world belongs to Square! I also own the M-1200 and will be taking mail orders starting now. Just send $5,000-6,000 to my address and I'll try to get one to you asap... give about 167.32 years for shipping. It's only polite.

I should probably add a quick warning. This is why the story is rated for violence; there's a decent amount of it in the last half of this chapter. Happy reading, I hope you like it.

Note: There have been small updates to this chapter as well.

**_Ardent Deception_**

**II.**

Slowly the young man came to, the room around him was dark and the air humid. Dim candlelight flickered off the wall and he slowly realized he was lying on a cot, covered by an old blanket. He started to sit up but was stopped by a burning pain in his head. Raising his hand, he massaged his forehead as he lay it back down on the pillow, squeezing his eyes shut against the pain. A low moan escaped his mouth.

"Ah, good to see you awake, my friend!" The man slowly opened his eyes again to see the dark face of a man grinning down at him. He frowned in confusion.

"Do I… Know you?" He asked hesitantly, his voice scratchy from disuse and dehydration.

The smile quickly faded from the other man's face, "You do not remember me?" He questioned with obvious worry.

The brown haired man shook his head slightly, careful not to jar it badly, "No, sorry. Should I?"

A small half-smile appeared, "You should," he confirmed, the smile vanishing quickly to be replaced with the worried expression again, "we have been close friends since we were both small."

The brunette frowned, he couldn't remember this man at all.

"Do you… remember who you are?" The man asked hesitantly.

The brunette on the bed began to scoff at the question but instantly froze as he realized he had no idea who he was. His face paled slightly as his mind raced to remember something, anything. "N-no," he stammered, "I don't… I don't remember anything!"

The other man's face fell slightly, although something in his eyes seemed to sparkle—tears, perhaps?—"I am sorry," he said sincerely, "we were too late to really save you, then."

"Save me?" The young man questioned with growing confusion, "Save me from what?"

"Not what," the other man corrected, "but who."

"Then who?" The brunette rephrased.

"SeeDs," the man spat angrily, "Mercenaries from Balamb."

"SeeDs…" The man brooded over the word but nothing came to him.

The man nodded, "They jumped you on your last mission; ambushed you in the night, those cowards! Twelve men died in the ensuing battle, I was afraid we had lost you, as well, but it appears we have not come to that yet, thank Hyne."

The brunette frowned as he heard the story, "Mission?" He hesitated slightly but not long enough for the other to answer, "Who… Am I?"

"You are Squall Leonhart." The man answered, "My good friend and a distinguished general of our army."

The brunette brooded over this information for a moment and then, "And… Who are you?"

"I," the man answered again, "am Deman. It was I who formed this resistance group, along with you and my brother, Eadig."

"A resistance?" Squall questioned, "Who are we resisting? Why?"

Deman smiled down at the other man, "All in good time, my friend. For now you should rest, recover from your injuries a little longer."

"My… Injuries?" Squall took stock of himself mentally and found he had several broken ribs—his chest was bandaged—as well as his left arm. A bandage he had noticed earlier encircled his head and from the pain he suffered upon trying to sit he gathered there must be a rather serious injury there as well. There were deep cuts around his wrists and he could feel uncomfortable welts upon his chest, sides and back. Suddenly he didn't feel like talking much at all.

Deman gave him a sympathetic smile, "I am sorry we did not get to you earlier, Squall," he whispered.

"Get to me earlier?" Squall returned in a weak whisper of his own, "Where was I?"

"The SeeDs had captured you," Deman said, "They were keeping you locked up in their base on the Balamb continent. We came for you as soon as we could, but when we found you it was too late, you had already been tortured… I'm almost glad you don't remember."

Squall looked at him somberly, shuddering slightly at the thoughts of what they must have done to him to make him lose his memory as he had.

"Sleep, my friend," Deman directed, stepping back from the bed to indicate the conversation was over, "you are well guarded here, you are safe with me."

Squall obediently closed his eyes and soon was overcome with sleep once more. Deman smiled down at him again, but this was not the same friendly smile he had shown the younger man before, this smile held a different air to it. It seemed malicious… evil, even.

* * *

Squall could hear voices through the wall of his room, echoing and talking loudly. He pushed himself to his feet, grunting slightly at a brief wave of pain that hit him, but he quickly forced that under control. His first step towards the wooden door on the far side of the room was staggering. The next was a bit steadier and by the time he reached the door he was walking fairly well on his own. He opened the door before him, which let out a small screech on its hinges.

The room suddenly silenced and every head turned towards him, watching him, waiting to see what he'd do next. The silence fell heavily on the young man and he shifted uneasily in the attention. Finally someone broke the silence.

"Squall! Good to see you're feeling well enough to join us, my friend!" Squall easily picked out the familiar face of Deman in the crowd.

While Squall had been bed-ridden for the last week and a half, Deman had been the one at his side the most—although he couldn't be there all the time—as Squall understood it the men looked to him for leadership. A handful of others had also visited him, one had introduced himself as Deman's brother, Eadig. The younger man had told him much the same as his older brother, that the three of them had been friends since they were young. Eadig always seemed greatly distressed whenever he came to visit and Squall had felt terrible for not being able to remember their childhood together.

The few others that had visited were Banan, Aidan and Garr, they were all fellow commanders like himself that he, apparently, had known and served alongside for quite some time. Scanning the crowd, Squall quickly picked out the faces of those he knew before turning back to Deman.

"I too am glad, my friend," he responded, returning Deman's smile although his was somewhat weaker, "I have been in bed for too long."

Deman laughed, clasping Squall on the shoulder and turning back to the others, "Let us welcome Squall back! He has healed admirably from the damage the SeeDs caused him, thank Hyne for that!"

All around him the men shouted, yelling similar sentiments to Deman's, laughing and welcoming Squall back. Squall couldn't help but grin as people introducing themselves to him as friends and shaking his hand, congratulating him on his recovery, soon surrounded him. He stopped trying to remember all their names after the first dozen or so, knowing he'd never be able to place the names with faces later anyway.

Soon, though, Squall grew weary again, swaying slightly on his feet. Deman cast the younger man a worried glance.

"Squall, are you alright?" Squall swayed still more, shaking his head slightly to indicate he wasn't. He just about lost his balance but was caught by Deman.

"I think you've had enough excitement for today, my friend," Deman commented, supporting the majority of the smaller man's weight, "let's get you back to bed. You can come out again tomorrow, if you'd like."

Squall nodded weakly and Deman helped him back into his room, lowering him onto the bed.

* * *

"What do you mean Squall's missing?" Rinoa Heartilly demanded angrily.

"About a month ago Squall was sent on a mission—what kind I cannot say," Cid repeated calmly. He had been expecting such an outburst when Rinoa had returned from visiting her father and was almost surprised it hadn't come sooner. The young sorceress had wished to clear up some misunderstandings between her and her father and had been away since a week before Squall left. She had just returned two days ago and had finally decided to go straight to the top after being unable to find her boyfriend that whole time.

"We were getting reports from him for a while until they… Just stopped." Cid finished calmly.

"And what were you going to do about it?" The black haired teen demanded, "When did they stop?"

"The last one we received was from almost two weeks ago." Cid admitted a bit sheepishly.

"And you didn't send anyone after him?" Rinoa demanded again.

"It's not that simple," Cid insisted, not to be daunted long by the teenager's temper, "we're dealing with extremely dangerous people, especially if they managed to… subdue Squall. Irvine and Selphie have been helping rebuild Trabia Garden and Quistis has been in Galbadia retaking her instructor exams. That leaves Zell and the handful of other rookie SeeDs currently on standby to go after him alone and if Squall couldn't handle it I don't think they could."

Rinoa gave the Headmaster an annoyed look, "What about Xu?"

"Xu is gone as well, she's on a mission on the Esthar continent. She should be back soon, we've just received word that she's completed her mission." Cid explained, "She'll be stopping by Trabia Garden with the Ragnarok on the way back to pick up Irvine and Selphie. Quistis is already on her way, and I've issued an order for all SeeDs that are able to report back immediately," Cid continued, cutting off Rinoa's next question.

"Why didn't anyone tell me?" Rinoa finally exploded angrily, "I'm his girlfriend, don't I have a right to know if he goes missing? He could be captured, dead even! Ooh!"

"Calm down, Rinoa," Cid said, sounding more than a little exasperated with the young woman's behavior, "there really was no need to send for you, I wanted to wait until the entire team was back together to send anyone else out anyway. Besides, Squall's the most competent warrior we have, I'm sure he's holding out fine."

* * *

A brief cry of pain was released from Squall's mouth as he fell to his knees under a harsh blow at the base of his neck by the hilt of Deman's sword. Deman scowled down at the panting SeeD.

"You know, Squall, I would have expected better from you," Deman taunted with annoyance, "I guess you really have forgotten how to fight."

Squall's eyes narrowed and he glared up at his rival, "Not… Yet…" He managed, rising to his feet again.

He lunged at his opponent and Deman's eyes widened in surprise at his speed. Squall unleashed blow after blow, each one more powerful than the last and finished it off with a devastating attack. It was Deman's turn to collapse, he quickly cast a Curaga spell on himself, then on Squall.

"I'm impressed," Deman said casually as the younger teen got to his feet, "I expected you to be powerful, but I didn't think you'd be that strong. Especially when you're still recovering."

"You shouldn't underestimate your enemies," Squall advised, "even if it is only a training spar. I could've easily finished you off if we really were enemies."

Deman nodded, "Then I'm glad you're on our side."

Squall, who had been polishing his gunblade as the two conversed, now slipped the weapon back into its sheath. There was a long silence as Deman finished polishing his own blade and slipped it away.

"Deman… Tell me, what are we fighting for? You wouldn't tell me before, but if I'm to fight at your side I think I have the right to know." Squall said, imploring his friend to tell him with blue-gray eyes.

There was another long silence before Deman answered, "Alright, Squall, you're right. You do have a right to know… Even if it is hard for me to tell you. I just… Can't believe you forgot everything.

"Less than a year ago, Squall, Galbadia was at the peak of its power. With the death of President Deling and the initiation of a new leader, we were all but invincible. Galbadia was going to rule the world, Squall, put an end to wars and diplomatic hardships, all continents would be united under the benevolent leadership of the Sorceress. My father, as well as your own, were prominent military leaders at the time, generals admired by all the people, brilliant strategic minds and loyal followers of our new queen," Deman's eyes sparkled as he told his tale, reliving the supposed glory of those days.

He hesitated to continue and Squall spoke his concerns, "But something happened."

Deman nodded, "It was discovered that SeeD, the supposed mercenary group I told you about earlier, was not as neutral as they liked us to believe. I guess the prospect of one government scared them, after all with no wars being waged there would be no need for trained killers like them. They rose against our beloved sorceress and somehow managed to overpower her—using foul play no doubt. They killed the queen in a bloody assassination, striping her of her powers and jading her beauty. They put a new leader in charge of Galbadia, a warmonger who cares nothing for peace, who wishes only to cause as much bloodshed as he can. It would be good for business, I guess, smaller towns like Timber and Dollet would constantly need to be hiring the mercenaries to protect them from the misled Galbadian armies. And what's more, they executed every one of the sorceress' followers…" Here Deman broke off, apparently gathering himself for what he was about to say next.

Squall guessed what he would say, though, "You mean… Our parents."

Deman nodded, his face sorrowful, "They executed them in the central square of Deling City to make a public show of the downfall of our leader… Since then I have managed to put together this group as a resistance to the new authority in Galbadia. All we want is peace, but we know that cannot be achieved under the current president. That is why we are fighting, Squall, that is why you must help us."

"I'm sorry, Deman… I didn't know." Squall whispered, wishing he could remember his father. "Damn! I feel like such a jerk!" He exploded, slamming a fist into the stone wall, "I wish I could just remember…"

"Hey come on, Squall, that's no reason to beat yourself up," Deman put a comforting hand on the shorter boy's shoulder, "it's not your fault; it's those damn SeeDs, they're the ones who did this to you. I don't blame you, Squall."

A small smile found its way onto Squall's face at the other boy's comforting words, "Thanks, Deman. Of course I'll help you. We'll get rid of this 'president' and defeat SeeD. I'll get them back for what they've done to me, to us."

Deman grinned as well, "That's what I was hoping you'd say, Squall. That's what I was hoping."

* * *

"Quistis! I'm so glad you're here!" Rinoa greeted excitedly as the taller blonde walked through the gates of Garden.

"Rinoa, what happened?" Quistis questioned, "The Headmaster said something about Squall being missing?"

Rinoa nodded, "Come on, the others are already waiting in the office. Cid wanted to wait until you were here to explain the situation to everyone."

Quistis nodded in understanding and quickly followed Rinoa up to the Headmaster's third floor office.

* * *

Craeg hesitantly approached the gate, the gatekeeper looked him up and down skeptically and he imagined he didn't look much like their normal visitors… Although that SeeD he had met didn't look much better. He wore a light blue cap only to cover up his dirty hair and a dark blue jacket over his T-shirt thick enough to keep him warm during the Galbadian winters. His pants, like Clint's were ripped and torn in some places and his shoes were all but unusable.

"Um… Excuse me, I'd like to speak to, uh, the proprietor of this school… Or whatever you call him."

"The Headmaster?" The gatekeeper asked skeptically.

"Yeah, sure," Craeg agreed, "look, it's real important, about one of his students—a SeeD. I need to talk to him right away, okay?"

"Oh, yeah? What's the SeeD's name?" The gatekeeper questioned skeptically.

"Clint Wood," Craeg answered, "least, that's what he told me."

"There's never been any student here by that name," the gatekeeper objected, "at least none that have ever walked past me."

"Then maybe he didn't," Craeg commented with exasperation, "look, can you just tell the Headmaster I'm here?"

The man gave a small sigh, "Alright, I'll tell him, but I can't promise you anything…" He turned halfway away from Craeg and got on a small radio in his booth. Craeg couldn't hear what he was saying but waited patiently for the man to finish. At last the gatekeeper turned off the radio and turned back to him.

"Well, I'm not sure what it's all about, but Cid says you can go right in," he said then added, "Just go straight down this hall, there's an elevator at the end of it. Take that up to the third floor, you can meet the Headmaster there."

Craeg nodded and quickly went through the gate opened for him. He walked swiftly down the hallway, trying to ignore the looks the well-dressed students gave him as he passed by. He couldn't imagine Clint being comfortable in such a crowded place as this.

Finding the elevator easily, Craeg did as the man told him and rode it up to the third floor. The doors slid open and a middle-aged man in a red vest greeted him.

"I am the Headmaster of this Garden," the man explained, "Cid Kramer, and who are you?"

"Craeg Delano," Craeg introduced holding out a hand, he was surprised when Cid shook it, most would have ignored such a gesture coming from a shabby dressed man like him.

"I understand you have information regarding one of my students." Cid stated, jumping right to the point.

"Uh, yeah, he said his name was Clint Wood, but your doorman said he'd never heard of him before. I thought he might be going under an alias, but while I was able to connect him with this place, I couldn't find what his real name was."

Cid nodded grimly, "Squall Leonhart." He stated, not that it made much difference now.

"Leonhart?" Craeg repeated in surprise, "_The_ Leonhart?"

Another nod, "None other."

"Wow," Craeg breathed, "not everyday you meet a hero."

"Excuse me, Mr. Delano, I don't want to seem rude, but do you or do you not have information regarding the location of Squall?" Cid asked, breaking the young man out of his reverie.

"Sorry, it's just, I had no idea!" Craeg shook his head slowly in amazement before acknowledging Cid's question, "Yeah, see me an' Cli—well, Mr. Leonhart, I guess—used to meet down in Waltzer bar a couple o' times a week. We'd talk about all kinds of stuff, but mostly he asked about that group, the Egeslics, but you probably already knew that. He'd pay good money for dirt on them.

"Anyway, about two weeks ago he stopped showing up, I got a little concerned after a couple of days—he wanted to meet a friend of mine—and started asking around…" He paused here, noticing Cid's look, "Hey, come on, don't look at me like that! Sure, it was easy money talking to him, but I've grown rather fond of the kid. I'd almost say we were friends, but a famous guy like that doesn't need a friend like me.

"I've got a couple of witnesses to his disappearance, they were real hesitant to talk, but I got it out of them. I know he took him, Mr. Kramer."

"Please, call me Cid," Cid said, "who took him, Mr. Delano."

Craeg grinned, "It's Craeg," he corrected, "they said two of Deman's lackeys were seen following him out of the bar one night."

"Deman? He's the leader of—"

"That's right," Craeg confirmed, "As far as the information I have goes, he was last seen alive, but there's no telling if he's remained that way these last two weeks."

"If he is alive," Cid said slowly, he had already assumed Squall had been taken by the Egeslics or worse so that didn't come as much of a surprise, "do you know where they'd be keeping him?"

Craeg's face fell, "No, sorry to say I do not. I think he might still be in Deling City, somewhere, but that's just a guess. No one saw him leave as far as I've heard, and he was pretty well known around those parts."

"Well, thank you for your help, Craeg," Cid said, "I'm sure it will be useful for finding Squall, at least we have a good starting point now."

"I, uh, hope you find him," Craeg said, scratching the back of his head nervously. He opened his mouth to say more but then shut it despondently and shook his head. "I hope you find him, sir," he repeated, "He's a good kid."

"Yes, he is." Cid agreed.

* * *

"You're sure you're up to this?"

Squall nodded, "It's been three weeks, about time I start making myself useful again."

"You're sure? If you need more time to recover, that's understandable. Those SeeDs did quite a number on you." Deman said, looking at the shorter brunette with a worried expression.

Squall laughed, "You worry too much, Deman." He stated, "I'm fine," he swung his gunblade to extenuate the argument, "I'm a fighter, I don't like laying on my back, letting everyone else do all the work. This is my place, so let's do it."

Deman studied him then nodded, "Alright, Squall, you'll be second to Garr on this mission," Squall opened his mouth to object but Deman cut him off, "it's too soon for you to have a command. Just work under Garr, take some time to re-learn the trade. I'll consider giving you command next time."

Squall nodded reluctantly, "I guess you're right," he agreed, "so, what's the mission?"

"Squall, Squall, Squall," Deman chided with an amused look on his face, "always so anxious. Be patient, I'll brief both you and Garr at the same time."

"Where is Garr?" Squall questioned impatiently, "Shouldn't he be here by now?"

Deman shrugged, "I'll tell you what, you go find Garr, that way you'll have something to do while you're waiting and you won't be bothering me with questions you know I won't answer."

Squall shot the man a defiant glare and crossed his arms but Deman remained unaffected. At length Squall dropped his arms to his sides again, "Fine, I'll go get Garr, but if he's been drinking I won't be held responsible for what I do to him."

Deman chuckled, "Fine, whatever." Squall left the room and Deman shook his head in amusement, Squall hadn't drunk with the other men at all since he'd brought him here. Said he'd "rather bang his head on the wall for an hour—it's almost as effective at killing brain cells." And alcohol was just a "distasteful, repulsive, unhealthy way for an idiot, while trying to look cool, make himself look like even more of an idiot than he was in the first place… Plus it really stinks!"

"You seem to be growing feelings for the SeeD."

Deman looked up in surprise to see a man step out of the shadows, his face was instantly serious, "Eadig, I didn't realize you were here."

"Are you?" Eadig asked, his one-track mind not giving up the question, "Do you like the SeeD?"

"Squall's our enemy," Deman replied, "I like to keep my enemies close, you know that. I'm just using him, Eadig, I could never be friends with a SeeD."

The younger boy's mouth twitched in a bit of a smile and he switched his gaze from his older brother to the door Squall had just exited through, "Still, you got to admit, he's pretty nice… for a SeeD."

"Only because he doesn't know who he is," Deman commented, "he'd probably kill us all if he remembered."

"But he won't remember," Eadig said, "so what's the harm in befriending him? He believes everything we tell him, he actually thinks he's one of us."

"But he isn't," Deman pointed out, "and what happens when the SeeDs send out more after him? We're not prepared for that kind of a confrontation. We should have just killed him."

"They'll never find us," Eadig stated, waving his concerns away, "besides, it was too good an opportunity to pass up. The M-1200 is working perfectly, we finally have a human subject, you can't pass up that kind of opportunity."

Deman chuckled, "You and your toys. I'm glad you're happy, Eadig. I hope everyone will be so happy after this mission; they all act so tense around him he's bound to notice something's up unless he can earn their trust on the battlefield."

* * *

"I'm glad you could come, Ellone," Cid said, smiling warmly and shaking a young woman's hand. "It's good to see you again, too, Kiros, Ward," Cid shook each man's hand in turn.

"Laguna wanted to be here, but he's swamped with work as it is." Kiros said in way of explanation, "This is the time of year where he works non-stop on coffee to try to finish all the paperwork he's let pile up over the last ten months."

"Ellone, are you sure you want to do this?" Cid asked, turning to the woman with concern.

Ellone nodded, "It's the only way to find him, I'll do what I can."

"And you're sure?" Cid asked, turning to Irvine.

The man nodded, "Squall's done so much for me, it's the least I can do to repay him."

Cid nodded, "We'll do it in the infirmary in case anything goes wrong."

The others nodded with understanding and slowly made their way down the hall and to the infirmary. Dr. Kadowaki was already waiting for them; she'd prepared the largest room they had, trying to make room for all the people that wanted to be there.

There were two beds, Ellone took one and Irvine hesitantly sat down on the other. Zell, Selphie and Quistis were the only ones here that had experienced Ellone's powers and Irvine was more than a little nervous. Rinoa had been sent back once, too, but she had been possessed by Ultemacia at the time, it kind of detracted from the experience.

"I'm going to try to put you in the most recent past I can find," Ellone explained to Irvine, "you're sure you want to go through with this? It might not be pretty."

Irvine nodded, laying back on the bed, "I'm game if you are. Like you said, it's the only way to find out where Squall is."

Ellone nodded, "Are you ready?" Irvine nodded and closed his eyes. Ellone did the same, laying down as well as she began to concentrate her powers.

* * *

Squall knew exactly what to do. He ran through the darkened streets of Deling City, a dark backpack over his green jacket. He knew that there were several more like him running around as well. This would send a message, the Egeslics were a force to be reckoned with. Everyone in the city, the world probably, would know it was them. No amount of government money would be able to cover this up.

"Hey, you! Stop!" Squall stopped at the shouting of a man behind him. A slight smirk played on his face as he turned slowly to face a Galbadian soldier dressed in red armor.

The officer seemed to be glad to have gotten his attention, he puffed out his chest to make himself more intimidating, "You got papers? Let me see 'em!" A new rule since the Egeslics' attacks started, everyone walking the streets at night were required to carry identification papers.

Squall's eyes flashed dangerously, "I've got a better idea," he said in a low voice, hand slowly moving to the hilt of his gunblade. Lightning fast, he drew it, "Die, traitor!" In a vicious attack, Squall brought the weapon down on the soldier before he had any time to react at all. The man was dead instantly under the efficient attack of a trained killer like Squall, and the last thing he saw was the flash of metal that was Squall's gunblade. The weapon was now soaked red and Squall quickly withdrew a cloth from his pocket and wiped the blade clean again.

Sheathing his weapon, Squall calmly turned away and continued to run as if nothing had happened.

* * *

(Did it work? Am I in Squall's past?) Irvine wondered. He couldn't see anything and as his disorientation wore off he realized his eyes were closed… Or, perhaps, it was Squall's eyes that were closed.

A shiver went up his spine, wherever he was, he was freezing. The loud sound of a door somewhere banging shut jarred his eyes open and wide blue eyes darted around in the dim light of an approaching torch. Struggling to sit up, he found it impossible. His hands were bound behind his back with thick, rough rope, tearing into his skin whenever he struggled, the same for his feet. The chill, he realized, came from lying on a damp stone floor wearing nothing but boxers. He definitely wasn't in Balamb anymore.

"Good, I was hoping you'd be awake," a voice said, coming from a man he couldn't make out as anything more than a dark silhouette since he was standing in front of the torch, light streaming from behind him in the mostly dark room.

The silhouette nodded to someone behind him and another man came forward, standing just beyond his feet. Without warning, a stinging pain cut through him as the man standing at his feet revealed the whip he had been carrying—and the knowledge to use it. The air rushed out of him and he grimaced at the unpleasant surprise, but more than that he did not let on.

"What do you want?" It was Squall's voice all right, his cold blue eyes glared up at the man whose features eluded him.

The man shrugged nonchalantly, "You really are too curious for your own good, Leonhart," was his eventual reply, "I suppose I should kill you now… we'll see."

Squall opened his mouth again but all that came out was a gasp as the second man's whip came down on him again, the tightly woven leather straps biting into his vulnerable skin. Glaring up ferociously at the dark silhouette, Squall gritted his teeth in expectation for the next blow.

He wasn't disappointed as the whip dug into him again and again, leaving red marks and gashes all down his open chest and side, onto his back and arms and occasionally catching his legs. He closed his eyes against the pain as it continued to build, but started suddenly at a realization that he felt stronger than he usually was, felt like he had more life even as the torturer beat his away.

(What's going on?) Squall thought suspiciously, trying to focus his mind on anything but the whip. (There's someone here.)

Despite the situation, Irvine couldn't help but be slightly amused with Squall's speed at discovering him. He had heard that Laguna and the others whom Squall, Selphie and Zell had shared bodies with on occasion had felt that there was someone else there, mostly because of their added strength in battle or the thoughts that seemed to come from nowhere. He liked the idea of giving Squall a little of his strength, especially now.

(Squall, it's me,) Irvine thought, hoping the other could hear him, _(It's Irvine… Do you know where you are?)_ He doubted it, but it was worth a chance.

Irvine thought, hoping the other could hear him, He doubted it, but it was worth a chance. 

(Irvine?) Squall thought with confusion, (Ellone…) His thoughts were interrupted as the man stung him with the whip again. He clenched his eyes tighter.

(Get out of here!) He thought angrily, (I can do this by myself!)

(No,) Irvine thought back, just as determinedly, _(Believe it or not, you're not invincible. I'll stay with you through this, Squall.)_

Irvine thought back, just as determinedly, 

The whip came down several more times and Squall very skillfully managed to keep his thoughts from the other man sharing his head. He didn't like the fact that one of his friends was there to see him like this but at the same time he was grateful for the added strength. Finally a timid, (Thanks, Irvine) came through.

(Hey, no problem. What're friends for?)

Squall tensed himself up again, preparing himself for whatever came next.

* * *

"Number 7, is the package in place?"

Squall reached for the handheld radio lying next to his backpack and held down the reply button, cutting off the static. "Give me half a minute," he said and put it back, turning once more to his 'package'.

Connecting a few more wires together, Squall pressed the red activation button. Bright red letters flashed the message "READY." Squall picked up the radio again.

"Number 7 in place," Squall reported into the radio.

"Great, we're just waiting for numbers 10 and 13 now." Garr responded, "Wait for my mark to set the sequence."

Squall waited, his hand resting on the device and thumb hovering over the small red button on the side. It seemed like a long time but it was only a few short moments later when the radio started to life again.

"All packages now in place," came Garr's voice, "All units set timer on my mark. Three… Two… One… Mark!"

Squall activated the timer instantaneously; red numbers replaced the ready message and, after blinking once, began the countdown. Squall smirked and picked up his radio while at the same time shoving his extra equipment in his bag.

"Number 7, timer activated." Squall reported, adding his own progress to the expected reports of the others.

He shoved the radio in his bag last and slipped it onto his back, joining the thirteen other figures retreating from the large gate signifying the very center of Deling City. This would be an event the world would not soon forget. If anyone hadn't heard of them yet, they sure would be talking tomorrow.

* * *

"Squall… Wake up, Squall."

Squall groaned pulling on his arms only to find that they were no longer tied behind his back. Instead they were encircled with heavy, cold bracelets of metal, chained to the wall somewhere above him. His body felt drained, a numb aching coming from every part of him. He felt hot despite the cold floor and wall he sat against.

(…Crap, I feel terrible.)

Squall couldn't help but chuckle at Irvine's comment, (If he thinks he feels bad, how does he think I feel?) The laugh quickly turned to a cough and Squall cracked his eyes open. Instinctively his eyes tried to focus on the face only a foot from his own, but its features were obscured with shadow.

"That's it," the man coaxed, "take a real good look at me, Commander," he said, standing up straight so that the torchlight finally revealed his face, "mission completed, you've found me. I am Deman, the leader of Egeslics. A pity you won't ever have a chance to report it."

"If you're going to kill me, just do it," Squall managed to say, glaring icily at the other man, "I hate people who talk a lot."

Deman chuckled, "As fun as that might be, it's not quite what I was planning on."

Squall's glare faltered as confusion took its place.

"You see, my brother is something of a scientist," Deman continued, looking thoroughly amused at his prisoner's confusion, "He's created what he likes to call the M-1200—20 gil if you can guess what the 'M' stands for—unfortunately, we don't have many volunteers to test it on… But don't worry, it's perfectly safe." He smirked down at Squall, his dark eyes sparkling dangerously in the torchlight.

Another man stepped up behind him, his face still shrouded with darkness, "Go ahead, ask me how safe it is."

As much as Squall hated admitting it, he was more than a little curious what this other man had to say. It occurred to him that something must be very wrong with this device for them to want to use it on their prisoner, "What does it do?"

"What does it do?" The second man repeated, "We'll get to that later." There was an impatient pause.

Squall raised an eyebrow, almost laughing at the man's childish behavior. "Fine, have it your way, how safe is it?" He finally asked, a touch of sarcasm in his voice.

"Like my brother said," the second man replied, his confidence now restored, "it's perfectly safe, only half the rats it was tested on died before it could be successfully installed." All amusement faded from Squall's mind, he wasn't afraid of dying in battle, but dying chained up to the wall at the hands of some mad scientist was not very high on his wish-list. "Only sixty percent of those remaining suffered and eventually died from mental retardation," the man continued proudly.

"…Only twenty percent are still alive?" Squall questioned his voice little more than a whisper, though the other men heard it.

The man laughed, "Well, I wouldn't say that, exactly. Out of the remaining twenty percent that lived through the operation and did not suffer from mental retardation only two percent are actually still alive."

"And… the others?" Squall couldn't help but voice.

"They died particularly gruesome deaths, I won't scare you if I mention the details, will I?" He didn't wait for Squall to respond, "Some were found charred in their cages, others were bloody messes of self-mutilation, still others starved to death, refusing to eat because of the terrors that lay in their minds—if you survive maybe I'll show you some pictures… But, as they're just rats, we can't really be sure what the effects will be on a human mind, can we?"

Squall pulled viciously on his chains, the cold metal digging further into his already bloodied wrists; "I won't be your lab rat."

"You don't have a choice." Deman stated, looking down at the young SeeD, obviously having been amused by his brother's show.

A third man came forward, holding a scalpel in one hand—Squall idly wondered if they had bothered to sterilize it. He tried to resist, but his body felt like lead and with every move he tried to make pain shot through his body as welts and sores were rubbed or re-opened. All he could do was pull at the chains on his hands, although that really didn't do much good either and he could already feel blood dripping down his arms from the cuts he was making.

The man with the scalpel came closer and without a second thought for Squall, pushed the sharp blade into the skin on his forehead, just an inch in front of his left ear. Squall jerked away, the scalpel making a long gash down the side of his face. The man growled.

"Hold him still!" He ordered and soon another man was at his side, firmly pressing his face against the stone wall behind him, preventing any further movement.

The man with the scalpel went back to his work, making a precise cut on Squall's temple. He clenched his teeth against the pain and watched out of the corner of his eye as the man exchanged his scalpel for a slightly larger knife.

It too was brought to Squall's head and the man, pushing down harder this time, began to cut into the scull beneath his skin. Unable to watch any longer, Squall squeezed his eyes shut, wishing unconsciousness would take him. The man pulled away the scalpel, mopping up the blood that had covered the side of Squall's face with a towel before continuing with the scalpel again.

Squall's vision faded in and out, blurry one moment, too bright the next. It felt like he was sitting there, restrained as some mad man broke into his head, for a very long time. At last the man pulled away.

"There, done." He said, putting down the scalpel on a tray, "Do you have the implant?"

(Implant?) Even Squall's pained mind knew that didn't sound good. He gave another weak try at struggling but again his restraints held tight and he was barely able to move his arms at all.

Deman's brother handed him a small plastic bag and Deman in turn held it up for Squall to see. "Do you see this, Commander?" He asked, pointing to something in the bag. Squall's eyes strained to focus and at length they came to rest on a small green chip in the corner of the baggie. He fought to keep his expression neutral but he gave a small nod anyway.

"This is the M-1200," Deman said, "A remarkable little chip, although the one implanted into the rats was decidedly smaller and simpler. Human minds are much more complex." He smirked slightly, "You may want to make yourself comfortable, this operation took over an hour on the rats, it's sure to take twice that long on you."

Squall took a deep breath, locked his jaw and squeezed his eyes shut as the bag was handed to the man who previously had been working with the scalpels. His head throbbed more than ever at whatever the man was doing to him.

* * *

"We've done it, Deman, all the fuses are in place," Garr reported, Squall at his side and the thirteen others that had been on their team behind them.

"Excellent," Deman said happily, "I suppose you shall want to see how your handy work pays out?" Garr nodded, "Squall?"

Squall nodded as well, "Sure."

"Then come with me," Deman directed, Eadig joining him as he walked. Garr and Squall followed along.

Deman led them through a series of tunnels until they were well away from the rooms that served as their bases. They then went up a collection of stairs, finally coming to a large window at the top of some abandoned tower or skyscraper of some sort. It provided a perfect vantage point to see the gate, gleaming golden in the center of the city.

Deman pulled out a silver watch from his pocket and flipped back the cover, "Less than forty seconds now."

The four figures stood silently, gazing through the glass expectantly. Thirty. Squall cast a sidelong glance at the others, his friends. Twenty. He was glad to have such loyal friends as them, especially over the last few weeks. Ten seconds left now. Squall turned his attention back to the gate. Five seconds. They didn't even dare to breathe; only watched out the window expectantly.

Suddenly over a dozen explosions lit up the night sky in a brilliant display of fireworks. Going off with impressive idiosyncrasy, each one of them activating at practically the same time. There was a thunderous boom and the structure rumbled before slowly collapsing to a pile of rubble.

Squall couldn't help but smile, the job had been pulled off perfectly. A cloud of smoke rose from the rubble, there was no way the government would be able to cover this up. A glance over at the other three showed that they were just as proud as him at a job well done.

* * *

"Wake up, sport, we're done."

Squall reluctantly opened his eyes, (Irvine?)

"Hey, are you okay? Can you say your name?"

(I'm here, Squall.)

"Squall… Leonhart…" Squall replied slowly, automatically. (I thought you left me…)

(Sorry, I guess we skipped forward in time.)

Squall's eyes finally began to adjust to the light and he saw Deman squatting in front of him, peering into his face, "I think he's okay, Eadig. So far, so good."

"Then we can start the process anytime now," the younger man, Eadig, said happily, "you've got to stay awake for this part, Squall, it'll be great. You're the first person to ever experience the effects of the M-1200, you've got to tell us exactly what's happening."

Squall watched a bit tiredly as Eadig prepared to press the button on a small remote, wires trailing from it to the side of his head. He knew it was fruitless, but he couldn't help giving his chains one last, very weak tug. The button was pressed and there was a painful buzzing in Squall's head.

A picture floated in front of him, he could see himself, not even four years old, he was dressed in an old gray sweatshirt, laughing at something Seifer had said. Squall started, he wanted to know the rest of the story around the picture, he didn't have a lot of happy memories—but suddenly it vanished only to be replaced with nothing. His eyes widened, trying to get the picture back.

Another one soon replaced it, one he was familiar with. Four years old, maybe even five. He stood outside in the rain. _"Sis…"_ This picture disappeared as well, fading into the darkness. (Sis…)

"Do you see that, boys? That's your new home. Pretty cool, huh?" Cid laughed, seeing the awed expression on the boys behind him. He couldn't remember this either, just seeing himself, five years old, riding on the back of a large yellow bird beside a six year old Seifer… It was his life, he wanted to hang on. It was ripped from his mind, though, torn into oblivion.

More memories passed in this way, his entire life was flashing before his eyes right before melting into nothing. He was ten now, blushing as a girl told him about her crush on him. Then it was gone. He was junctioning a GF for the first time, feeling it's warmth flow into his mind… Nothing. Even at Twelve years old, the first time he had picked it up, the Revolver had felt like an extension of him. He recalled the first time he held it and then… He just couldn't remember.

He couldn't help it, a vast emptiness was growing inside of him. Tears began to fall from his eyes. First, only a few droplets of salty water and then it began to stream as his life disappeared before his eyes and the emptiness took over his mind. It was almost gone, his memories became even more recent. He was losing his sense of self.

There was Seifer before him, the Hyperion slashing his face and leaving him with a bloody scar on his forehead. He had a scar? It all faded away. A star shot overhead, following it with his eyes, he saw her for the very first time. Rinoa… How did they meet? He couldn't remember. He was in space, floating in a tiny suit to save the woman he loved. And then there was nothing, the void darker than the pits of space stealing the memory away.

He had been a proud man, emotions and friends were for the weak. They held you down… Now he was none of that, he was sobbing, trying to hold onto what he could. And there she was again, her name… It didn't matter… chained in some contraption that would seal her away, that would take her from him. His gunblade went down with a powerful strike and she came free, falling into his arms… And into nothingness. Time Compression, Ultemecia, the celebration they had had upon his return. All were gone. The months of boredom, wherein his only light had been seeing his angel, smiling back at him… But her face was obscured by darkness.

His last mission… This mission. Taking the late train out, gone. Timber was gone, as if he was never there. Deling City, Craeg… Everything was gone. Only one thing was left, giving him strength. A strange feeling in his head, he wasn't sure what it was, but he held onto it like an anchor and even now he could feel it slipping away. His body ached, but he wasn't sure why as memories of his torture—maybe hours before—slipped away. He was a wreck, a wretched man who had lost everything and remembered nothing.

(Squall…)

* * *

Irvine felt the great emptiness eating away at his insides, he was sobbing uncontrollably now. "Irvine, it's over, it's okay now," a voice he didn't recognize was saying, as reality slowly began to force it's presence upon him. (Squall…)

Irvine looked up, not even bothering to wipe away the tears still falling from his eyes. Looking across the room, his eyes met with Ellone's. She too was crying, she might not have felt what the two men had, but she had witnessed the heart wrenching scene and felt devastated to see her little brother so badly hurt. Rinoa and Quistis were at her side, comforting her.

"Hey, are you okay, man?" Irvine looked over to see Zell looking particularly awkward. Selphie was at his side, she had been the one speaking earlier, he realized belatedly.

"I'm fine," Irvine said, finally forcing the tears to stop, "It's just… Hyne, Squall."

"What happened?" Rinoa asked suddenly, "He's not…?"

"Last I saw him he was… alive," Irvine said, putting her at ease at least a little, "I'm not really sure what they did to him, but…" He closed his eyes, trying to remember at least something he had experienced, "Whatever it was, it was horrible."

"Did you find out where he was?" Cid asked in a concerned tone. He had been worried about Squall before, but now he was tenfold, he couldn't imagine what had happened to the SeeD to produce such a reaction, but he knew it must have been horrible. He didn't want to leave Squall in a position like that any longer than was absolutely necessary, especially if he was still alive.

"I'm not sure, exactly," Irvine said, "I hardly remember a thing, besides that feeling in the last moment I was with him…" Irvine paused to collect himself, "But… It was dark, there weren't any windows, I remember that. And cold, wet… I think I—he might have been underground."

At that moment Xu came in the door, "Excuse me, Headmaster? The Galbadian president is requesting to speak with you immediately, he says it's urgent."


	3. III

Summary: It's about five months since the end of the game, Squall Leonhart has been forced into the role of an international icon, and out of active duty. He finally gets the opportunity to go on another mission, but what happens when things go wrong and he's taken prisoner? Will Squall's friends find him? And what happens when it seems he doesn't want to be found?

Disclaimer: I don't own copy rights on Final Fantasy. But it would be really cool if I did.

A/N: Real quick. Sorry it took so long for me to update. I've been kind of busy the last month. And when I wasn't being busy I was being lazy because this new system is kind of a pain. Anyway, I'd like to say thank you to angel-brokensorrow for reviewing. Kind words, good criticism, everything a good review needs, right? The first chapter is one of the things I have decided need to be fixed in this story, so if you've stuck around this long, that's good. Hopefully I'll be done with a revised chapter 1 soon, it's just hard to revise your own work unless you scrap everything and there's a lot of stuff I still want to use in that chapter. So we'll see if I can get it to work better.

Warning: Squall is a little OOC for reasons explained in the story. I tried to keep him moderately close to his character in the game, but he just isn't the same, you know?

**_Ardent Deception_**

**III.**

The streets of Deling City were more crowded than usual, although the citizens themselves stayed safely indoors. An army of youths, a good hundred strong, walked the city streets in groups of threes, searching in every building as they went. Some were dressed in the blue uniforms of Balamb Garden, some were dressed in the black uniforms of Galbadia Garden, a few even wore the colors of Trabia Garden proudly while some preferred their own street clothes.

They were all gathered here for a reason, searching through the city for a purpose. They were SeeDs and they had reason to believe their beloved Commander who had once saved the world was being held captive somewhere beneath the city of Deling. They had swamped the underground sewers and he had been nowhere to be found which left only one conclusion in their minds, there must be another way under the city elsewhere. They would find it.

SeeDs were an elite fighting force and very rarely did anything for less than maximum price. They were the best and demanded to be treated as such… But this job was different, it was in their interest to see it through and thus they had accepted it for a startlingly small sum of money. The president of Galbadia had hired them to find the terrorist group called the Egeslics, apparently they had destroyed the central gate, a monument that had been in the center of the city for countless centuries. They hardly needed to do it, though, the SeeDs were on their way before they even received any money.

Zell's radio started to life, "All frequencies, this is Team F, Iburi, I think we've found something. I'm relaying the coordinates." Moments later a set of red coordinates flashed onto Zell's screen. He looked up to see the anxious faces of his teammates.

"Zell?" Rinoa asked, looking distinctly concerned.

"Which way is it, squad leader?" Selphie asked, holding her Shinobou in a threatening manner.

Zell glanced down at the coordinates one last time and turned to face down one of the streets, "This way," he directed, running in that direction and soon hearing the two girls' footsteps joining his own.

Arriving at the destination a few short minutes later, Zell and the others quickly worked their way to the front of the small crowd that had already formed. It looked like five or six other teams had managed to get there before them.

"Dude, is it for real?" Zell questioned, catching sight of Quistis standing in the doorway of a run down looking building.

Quistis nodded, "They've found a passage leading somewhere, it hasn't been thoroughly explored yet, though. We're holding out for another couple of teams to arrive as backup."

"He had better be alive," Irvine half-growled, looking somberly into the darkened building.

"I-I'm sure he is," Rinoa said with a smile that didn't quite dispel the worry in her eyes, "If anyone can pull through this, Squall can."

It was only a few minutes longer before enough teams had gathered and it was deemed safe to enter. Zell and Quistis's teams were near to the front, all of their members being the most anxious to find Squall.

* * *

"Sir, it's the SeeDs, they've found the entrance."

"Thank you, Bron," Deman said, he turned to the officers gathered around them.

"Alright, we all knew this moment would come," Deman said, "SeeD dares to challenge us, we must meet this call. They're in our backyard now, last count our forces nearly double theirs, we have a fighting chance against them. Beating SeeD will make us a force feared by all, commanders, take your teams, intercept the SeeDs before they get to the third precinct."

A series of salutes were given and the majority of the room emptied. "What about me?" Squall asked.

"You go with Eadig," Deman directed, "You will be his second in command, if things get to hairy, you come back here to me."

Squall nodded and quickly hurried off in the direction Eadig had left in. He soon caught up with the younger man.

"Eadig," he called out. The seventeen year old stopped and looked back.

"Squall," he greeted, "So my dear brother has stuck you with me, has he?"

Squall smiled, "Yep, I don't think he's ready to let me take my own command yet."

"Especially not when we're heading into your first battle," Eadig pointed out, "How do you feel?"

"Fine," Squall replied, "A little excited, I can feel my adrenaline pumping already. Anyway, it's not really my first time, is it? I just can't remember fighting before."

"That's right," Eadig confirmed, "You've been in even more battles than me, I guess it's too much to hope for to expect you'd be scared." He paused and looked at Squall thoughtfully, "So this is your big chance, you can get even with those SeeDs for what they did to you."

Squall nodded, a wry grin appearing on his face, "I wonder if the ones who did this to me will be there?" he mused, running a gloved finger along the fresh scar adorning his left temple. It was one of the few lingering scars from the torture he had endured at the hands of the SeeDs.

Eadig nodded, "They probably will be, from the reports I've heard it seems like at least half their mercenary force is out there. Maybe more."

* * *

It wasn't much longer until Squall ran into his first SeeD team. He, Eadig and Hilder took fighting stances, the SeeDs did the same.

"Hold it!" One of the SeeDs exclaimed, "Iburi, is that…?"

"Squall?" The female SeeD supplied, looking at the brunette as if he were a ghost, "Commander, is that you?"

Squall narrowed his eyes (How do they know me? Are they the ones who…) He glared at them, "Yes, it is me, I don't know who you are, but you're going to pay for what you did to me, SeeD."

Eadig cast him a sidelong glance, exchanging a grin with the other man, "I'll allow you the honor of starting us off, Squall."

"It would be my pleasure," Squall said, grinning predatorily at the SeeDs.

"Commander Leonhart?" One of the SeeDs questioned in confusion.

Squall didn't give them a second glance and rushed forward to attack with his gunblade, bringing it down on the SeeD with an unexpected amount of power. The young SeeD staggered back in surprise, the others watching on dumbly, confusion evident in their faces. Eadig attacked next, bringing his katana down on the same SeeD Squall had attacked. Hilder cast a powerful Sleep spell, causing the third SeeD to fall into a bewitched slumber.

The SeeDs still seemed not to have regained their wits and Squall attacked again, his powerful attack causing the SeeD to collapse, although whether he was dead or only knocked out was unknown to them. This seemed to bring the last remaining SeeD to her senses, she pulled out her radio.

"All frequencies, this is Team F, we've found him," the SeeD reported quickly, "You're not going to believe this—"

The SeeD was cut off suddenly as Eadig took his next turn, delivering a powerful blow himself, the radio was cut in two in the process. The SeeD dropped the useless contraption and narrowed her eyes, attacking Eadig swiftly with two shuriken, sharp and deadly. Eadig recoiled from the attack but Hilder was already casting Cura to heal his commander's wounds. Squall attacked again and the young SeeD wasn't left standing for her next turn.

"You're stronger than I thought you'd be," Eadig stated, "I'm impressed, Squall."

Squall cast the younger man an irritated glance, "Enough talk, let's finish this."

Eadig nodded and the two of them ferociously double teamed the still sleeping SeeD. The young SeeD was jarred awake by the powerful double-bladed attack just long enough to experience it's agony before falling to the ground, as lifeless as his companions. Eadig and Squall nodded at each other, acknowledging the other's strength before moving on through the caves.

* * *

"Quick, it was coming from this way!" Zell shouted back to the rest of his team, weaving in and out through fighting SeeDs and terrorists. Rinoa and Irvine trailed close behind him; Selphie had reluctantly agreed to stay behind with Quistis to control the entrance of SeeD. "Give those meanies that took Squall a butt-kicking for me!" had been the bouncy brunette's only demand.

"Up there!" Zell pointed ahead where a team of SeeDs was just being finished off by several of the terrorists, "Let's go!"

Rinoa and Irvine were on his heels but what they saw made them all stop in their tracks.

"…Squall?" Rinoa breathed, tears of relief beginning to form in her eyes, "It's really… Hyne, I was so worried!" She started to run forward but was stopped by Zell.

"Hold it Rinoa, something here's not right," Zell said, holding the girl back.

"Damn right something's not right," Squall sneered, glowering at the SeeDs, "You're trespassing on private property."

"Squall?" Rinoa asked in confusion.

"Actually, Squall, it's not quite private property," Eadig commented thoughtfully, "Not a square yard was actually paid for."

Squall and Hilder joined him in his laughter.

"Squall, what's gotten into you?" Irvine demanded, looking between the two terrorists and his friend uncertainly.

"That's General Leonhart to you, SeeD," Squall growled, "What did you expect? Outstretched arms of friendship when you nearly killed me?"

"Squall, what are you talking about?" Zell demanded, casting a worried glance at Rinoa who was taking Squall's strange behavior particularly badly.

"Don't play dumb, SeeD," Eadig shouted, glaring at them as well, "Squall's right, you nearly killed him with that torture of yours!"

"You won't take me again," Squall put in, "You surprised us last time, it won't happen again."

"And besides, he has his friends with him this time," Eadig added, giving Squall an encouraging grin.

Squall nodded to him and prepared to attack. Eadig and Hilder followed his example, both readying themselves for the attack.

"Your friends?" Irvine repeated.

"You're calling these terrorists your friends?" Zell asked, eyes wide in disbelief.

"I am," Squall said calmly, "They stuck with me through my idiocy these last few weeks while recovering from what you did to me."

"What we…" Rinoa couldn't hold back a sob at the implications her boyfriend was making.

Squall looked taken aback at this reaction and shot Eadig an uncertain glance. (Rinoa…) His head suddenly burned with an immense pain, Squall staggered back a step, raising his left hand to his forehead in an attempt to block out the pain. "R-Rinoa?" He managed to gasp out, confusion and pain on his features. He shot a pleading look at Eadig, eyes questioning through the pain what was happening, "W-what…"

Eadig immediately realized what was going on, "It's your memories, Squall, they're trying to immerge," he explained, "But your mind's trying to block them out, they must be painful memories. I'd wager these are some of the same that tortured you during your time in Balamb."

The pain slowly receded and Squall's eyes flashed, "You did this to me?" He questioned, a dangerous edge in his voice.

"Squall, I—" Rinoa managed to force out through her disbelief.

"No! I won't hear anymore of your lies!" Squall shouted, cutting her off.

"Squall!" Irvine and Zell gasped at the same time, amazed at the harsh words coming from their beloved friend and leader.

"Don't tell me you actually believe that bastard!" Irvine exclaimed hotly.

Squall's glare shifted to him, "That 'bastard' you're talking about happens to be a good friend of mine. I won't have anyone speak that way to one of my friends, least of all a SeeD coward." He growled and without further words, rushed forward and attacked the cowboy.

Behind him, Eadig couldn't help but grin, mockingly meeting the eyes of the blonde SeeD, "What are you going to do?" He asked tauntingly, "Are you going to fight him?"

Zell's eyes hardened. "No, but I'll stop up that smart mouth of yours," he growled, running up and punching the man.

"Squall, you're confused, you don't know what you're doing." Irvine insisted, holding his chest from the attack he had just suffered.

"I know exactly what I'm doing," Squall growled, "SeeD has done too much to me and my friends for me to just let it go. You'll join all those Galbadian soldiers in the grave when I'm done with you."

Irvine angrily shot at Eadig, adding his attack to Zell's. Eadig growled in irritation, glancing down at the blood soaking up in his shirt, he rushed forward with the katana, attacking Zell. Zell stumbled back in pain and looked at Rinoa expectantly, waiting for her attack. Rinoa didn't rise from her spot on the ground, tears silently falling from her eyes.

"Hey, Rinoa, you okay?" Zell asked with concern, tentatively dropping a hand on her shoulder.

She shook her head, "No I'm not okay!" She exploded, looking up at her friend with tear stained cheeks. She turned to look at their enemies, her eyes locking with Squall's, "I can't believe you'd actually say that kind of stuff about your friends, Squall! After all we've been through! I guess… I really didn't know you as well as I thought I did…" She pushed herself to her feet, running back through the battle crowded tunnels to the entrance.

Zell turned back to face Squall angrily, "I hope you're happy, Squall. Rinoa's been worried sick over you for the last week and you insult her! That's low, man."

"What are you…?" Squall asked, his confusion mounting, "I'm the one who…!" Squall broke off, his eyes filled with angry confusion (What are they acting so upset about? Aren't they the ones who…) Suddenly pain added to his emotions, his head burning again.

"Squall?" Zell asked in concern, instinctively taking a step forward to help his friend. Hilder took this opportunity to strike the blonde with a powerful Firaga spell, stopping his approach.

"Squall, are you alright?" Eadig questioned with the concern of a good friend.

Squall stumbled backwards in pain (Rinoa… Irvine, Zell… Who?) He clutched at his head with his free hand, another futile attempt to stop the pain. "Wh-who… Are you?" Squall managed to gasp, dropping his gunblade as he collapsed to one knee, clutching his head with both hands now. It felt like a roaring fire was pushing the sides of his scull outwards, darkness began to creep in on the edges of his vision.

(Who are we?) Irvine wondered, a chill went up his spine and sudden understanding flashed in his mind, "Squall!" He cried, running forward only to be stopped by another magic attack of Hilder's.

"Stay away from him!" Hilder commanded, he himself wasn't entirely sure where Squall had come from, but he knew he was a loyal member of the Egeslics. He held his staff threateningly, ready to throw out another spell if needed.

Eadig was already at Squall's side, "Squall, put your hands down, let me see!" He demanded, trying to turn Squall's head towards him.

"It… hurts," Squall gasped, "Hyne, Eadig! It burns!"

Eadig forced Squall's hands away from his head, his scar had reopened, blood was already covering the side of his face. "We need to get you out of here Squall," Eadig stated, "It was too soon for you to confront these people, Deman never should have let you come." He turned to glance up at Hilder, "Hilder, can you hold them back?"

"I think so, sir," Hilder confirmed with a nod, "Take Squall and go!"

"Thank you," Eadig said, helping Squall to his feet.

"Squall!" Zell cried as the two men retreated back from the fighting, "What have you done to him?"

Another Firaga tore his attention unwillingly from his friend and he was forced to focus on the battle, to hope they could finish this man off before Squall and Eadig disappeared entirely from sight. Irvine, as if reading his thoughts, cast haste on him and then on himself. Zell ran up, his limit break available from the surge of emotion he felt.

He dealt out a devastating series of blows, injuring his opponent substantially. Irvine did the same, releasing a torrent of pulse ammo on the man. Hilder panted, his hands on his knees as he felt his life slipping away from the powerful attacks. At length he looked up and the SeeDs were surprised to see his eyes glowing red as he rose to his full stature again, leaning heavily on his staff.

"Firagada," the man declared, his voice low and calm but the two men heard him anyway. Zell exchanged a confused glance with Irvine but didn't have long to wonder as a torrent of fire magic poured out of the man, burning their skin and singing their hair. Zell gasped, he had suffered his share of spells in his life as a SeeD but never had he experienced such a strong magic as this, he collapsed weakly, his life all but gone.

Glancing over at Irvine he felt his heart wrenched to see the cowboy lying unconscious beside him on the ground. His turn came quickly, thanks to the haste spell still in effect, "Full life!" Zell called, casting the spell on his friend. After what seemed like an excruciatingly long time but in reality was only a few seconds, his friend stirred and pushed himself to his feet, life returning to his limbs. Zell sighed in relief before realizing it was his turn again.

"Curaga!" Zell quickly cured himself, leaving it to Irvine to attack on his next turn. The cowboy didn't let him down and when his turn came next he shot at Hilder one last time. The man stumbled and fell to the ground, his lifeblood spilling on the stone floor and his body stirring no more.

"Come on, let's go!" Zell shouted to Irvine, starting down the tunnel in the direction he had seen Squall go.

"Zell, no," Irvine said, stopping the young martial artist in his path, "I need to talk with the others right away, I think I might know what's going on."

Zell looked back at the cowboy and then back down the path, "Okay but… Can't it wait till after we've saved Squall?"

"I don't think so," Irvine replied, "You saw the pain he was in earlier when we confronted him, if it happens again who knows that damage that might be done! We can't take that risk, I think we need to devise a new plan of action."

Zell looked longingly after his missing friend and reluctantly tore his eyes from the dark tunnel and back to Irvine, "Fine, but you'd better be right about this."

Irvine nodded and the two of them started back the way they had come.

* * *

"Squall!" Deman exclaimed as the brunette entered the room leaning heavily upon Eadig. He stepped over to them from where he and several other strategists had been looking at a computer screen displaying the battle. "What happened?"

The pain had died down a bit and instead of burning his head only throbbed with the aftermath of whatever had occurred. Squall let go of the other man, stubbornly standing on his own, "Nothing, I'm fine."

Deman looked at Eadig instead and his brother answered his question, "We ran into a group of SeeDs I believe Squall might have had the unfortunate opportunity to get to know in Balamb. At first I thought he was trying to remember painful events and his mind was warning him away, but then his wound broke open again," Eadig gestured to the bloody cut on Squall's forehead, "They might have done something to him and activated it to cause him pain when we ran into them. I think it was still too soon for Squall to have such a confrontation, brother."

Deman nodded soberly, "I am sorry, Squall. I guess while you do seem physically well again your mind has not yet fully recovered. I should have seen this coming and kept you back here with me."

"I don't need your apologies," Squall refuted, "I would have demanded to go out anyway, you couldn't have kept me back here. It isn't you who is at fault here, you didn't do anything, it's those damn SeeDs who did this to me."

"Still, I—" Deman was cut off by one of the strategists.

"Sir, we've just received a report the SeeD have found exit 5," the man said, pressing a button on the computer to enter in their presence there, "We're completely surrounded."

Deman looked at the screen, red dots were invading every one of the five tunnels serving as entrances to their underground base. As more reports came in the red figures multiplied and came closer to the main cave, his own blue dots began to dwindle in numbers.

"… Sound the retreat," Deman finally ordered, "We don't have a chance of defeating them now."

Squall looked at the man in confusion, "How can we retreat if they've taken all the exits?"

Deman shot the younger man a grin, "There is one exit they couldn't possibly find," he informed the brunette, "And that is because it doesn't exist."

"It doesn't exist?" Squall repeated, more confused than before, "Then what use is it?"

"I shall show you, Squall," Deman said, his mischievous grin still in place, "If I tried to explain it you would only grow more confused." He turned back to the strategists, "Unless any of you have some brilliant idea that could turn the tide of this battle sound the retreat on all frequencies."

The men muttered in agreement, having not better ideas. Deman turned to Squall and Eadig, "You two come with me; Squall, you'll love this." He ran through a series of small tunnels branching off of the main cave and they were shortly in another large room that looked like a parking garage, for there were many modified cars strewn about the floor in some ordered form of chaos.

Deman ran up to one at the far side of the cave, attached to the front was what looked like a large drill. There was another one near it that was larger although it didn't look quite as well put together.

"This is the Drill-Pill, as my brother calls it," Deman told Squall, "The drill on it's front can break through solid rock, although not for very long. We didn't have quality materials so it can only dig a few meters through the ground. That tunnel there," Deman pointed down the only other tunnel leading from the room, "Goes within seven meters of the surface, close enough that we can dig through in no time yet with enough ground to ensure we won't be found. This little one goes through first, then that other one follows it to widen the tunnel a bit."

Squall nodded in understanding, "Sounds like you've been planning this for quite some time," he noted.

"Actually," Deman said, "You have been planning for this for quite some time."

Squall looked at him in surprise, "Me?"

Deman nodded, "I had said the five exits would be enough, if we ever got attacked we could escape through on of the other exits, but you insisted on this one saying the others could be found too easily… I guess you were right."

"For the record, I agreed with you," Eadig whispered to Squall then louder added, "Alright! Enough talk, let's bust outta here!"

Deman nodded and Eadig led Squall into the machine. "Blanc!" Deman called, seeing the young man as one of the first to enter the cavern behind them, "You take this one and follow us out!" He nodded to the larger of the two drilling machines. Blanc saluted and ran towards the machine.

Deman hopped into the smaller machine and closed the door behind him and his friends. Eadig was already powering up and soon the drill on the front started spinning, the whole car shook with the effort and Eadig had to shout to be heard over the noise.

"I suggest you buckle up, Squall," Eadig shouted, "it's going to be a bumpy ride!"

Squall nodded and quickly buckled his seatbelt, Eadig and Deman already having done the same. Moving a lever, Eadig coaxed the machine forward and it started moving with an alarming jar. It almost bounced up the small get-away tunnel—Squall was sure the tires had left the ground at least once—and soon Squall could see the bright headlights shining off a wall of dirt right in front of them. He braced himself, clinging tightly to the dashboard in front of him.

The whole machine stopped for a second as the drill tip labored, trying to dig into the surface. Seconds passed slowly and the drill finally gained the leverage it needed, the machine jarred forward again although much slower than before. Dirt and rocks fell like rain around the small car as the drill began to tunnel their way out. The close quarters all but drowned out the lights, unable to make out any distance in front of them.

They rode like that for several long minutes, the car shaking as if it might fall apart and the drill laboring loudly in the dirt and rock. Finally a bit of light poured out of a small hole created by the drill tip and the ride suddenly got easier, the drill spun with more ease which made the entire car move smoother. Half a minute more and the machine exploded through the ground, climbing the rest of the way from the tunnel and landing level on the asphalt on the far edge of the city.

"And we're out!" Eadig announced happily, grinning at his companions widely. He coaxed the machine forward a bit and stopped, all three heads turned to watch the emergence of the second drill a few moments later. It, too, easily exploded from the surface and stopped a few meters from them.

Deman turned on the radio to contact the other machine, "Blanc, hang around for a bit until the others start coming out. Tell them to lie low for a while, we'll regroup later."

"Yes, sir," Blanc answered over the radio, backing off to a safe distance before turning to face the opening.

"Are you sure he'll be alright here by himself?" Squall asked, looking back at the other machine as Eadig began to steer them away.

"He'll be fine," Deman stated, waving aside his concern, "Blanc's a big boy, he can take care of himself. We've got to get you out of town."

* * *

They were regrouping in Cid's office after the battle. The tunnels had all been cleared out but there had been no further sign of Squall. They had found another tunnel which they presumed was used to escape through; now they were just waiting for Rinoa.

"Why don't we just start without her?" Zell suggested, "She needs some time alone right now, after all that's happened."

Irvine shook his head, "No, she needs to hear this, she's confused and needs to be straightened out. The last thing she needs right now is to be left alone. I'm going to go find her." With that as the final word, Irvine walked swiftly from the room, leaving the rest of the team to watch after him.

"Zell, you were on his team," Quistis pointed out, "Any idea what this is all about?"

Zell shook his head, "Nope. I guess he wanted to wait till we were all together to tell us."

They waited for a good ten minutes, exchanging a few quiet comments although none of them really felt like talking. Quistis and Selphie had managed to get a little news about Squall from Rinoa when she had come running from the tunnels and what they had heard disturbed them. It had also been reported to Cid, one SeeD reported two of her teammates had been killed by their leader, Squall's friends found this hard to believe—some more than others.

At last Irvine walked back into the room followed by a very distressed looking Rinoa. Irvine didn't even wait to be asked to speak.

"We all know Squall was acting strange at our last meeting in the Deling Tunnels," the cowboy stated, immediately cutting to the heart of the matter, "And I think I know why." He paused to compose himself for what he was going to say, "I don't remember much from when Ellone sent me to his past, it's really just the last moment I remember… I, well, Squall, felt… empty, like a vast nothingness had swallowed his soul… Then, when I woke up, the feeling lingered on me, I didn't even recognize Selphie's voice right away. Down in the tunnels, Squall seemed confused, he even asked who we were like he didn't recognize us… I think Squall's lost his memory, no, not lost it, I think it was stolen from him. That was the emptiness I felt and that's why he attacked us, he didn't even know us."

There was a long silence which Rinoa broke at length, "He spoke… like we hurt him. If he doesn't remember us, why would he say that?"

"These guys have had free reign with him for three weeks now, they could have easily told him things to make him think SeeD was his enemy," Quistis said quietly, "If he did vaguely recognize one of us, then he'd think he just fought us or something."

"We need to help him," Rinoa said resolutely, "What can we do?"

"I don't know," Irvine admitted, "The last time we saw him, he was in pain from something. That other guy said something about painful memories trying to return, we'll definitely have to be more careful from now on or we could end up killing him." The others looked at him in shock while Zell just looked at the ground, recalling the half-bloodied face of his friend at their last meeting, twisted with pain and agony.

"But one thing's for sure," Irvine continued, "We need to get Squall away from those people. Maybe Dr. Kadowaki can find out what's wrong with him."


	4. IV

Summary: It's about five months since the end of the game, Squall Leonhart has been forced into the role of an international icon, and out of active duty. He finally gets the opportunity to go on another mission, but what happens when things go wrong and he's taken prisoner? Will Squall's friends find him? And what happens when it seems he doesn't want to be found?

Disclaimer: Final Fantasy and all of its characters belong to someone much richer than me. Deman and Eadig belong to someone who is always exactly as rich as me.

A/N: Thanks again to my loyal reviewer, angel-brokensorrow. I'm not supposed to respond directly to reviewers, but I appreciate all compliments and critisism. Hopefully some day I'll really get a chance to polish this out. It's been a long time (three months!) since my last update. I can't say much about that other than, sorry, I've been really busy with junior classes in college. They're a pain.

I did, however, pretty much rewrite the entire first chapter of this story. I wasn't happy with it, and other people expressed their own concerns with it, so I scrapped it and wrote a new intro. I like this one a lot better, so you can all go back and read that to make up for the short chapter this time. Tell me what you think.

_**Ardent Deception**_

**IV.**

"We're going to have to lie low for a while, regroup and gather our forces." Deman commented. Eadig and Squall both nodded in agreement.

"I can get a job in the city," Eadig suggested, "we'll need a source of income if we want to rebuild our team. And Squall should probably take it easy for a while."

Squall turned steely eyes to glare at the younger brother; "I'm fine, I don't need rest. I'll get a job, too, that way Deman can concentrate all his efforts on recalling our men."

"Are you sure, Squall?" Deman asked, "We don't want a repeat of what happened back in Deling."

"Yeah, don't try to push yourself too fast," Eadig agreed with a nod.

"Look, I'm fine now," Squall said, holding his arms apart as if for an inspection. He certainly was looking much better, his color was back and the only hint that something out of the ordinary had happened was the small square bandage currently covering Squall's temple. "I'm not an invalid, I'd like to be of some use to our team, okay?"

Deman exchanged a look with Eadig, carefully considering Squall's request. He knew wasn't really a question, he had been around the other teen long enough to know once Squall Leonhart made his mind up about something he was going to do it. At length he nodded, "Alright, Squall, you'll get a job, too. But be careful and try to stay discrete, those SeeDs may still be looking for you."

* * *

Everything concerning Commander Squall Leonhart's disappearance and the apparent resulting loss of memory was kept with the utmost secrecy. The majority of the SeeDs knew about the former, of course, but Cid went to great lengths to ensure the knowledge didn't spread to the student body and no one outside of Squall's close-knit group of friends—and a few of the staff—knew about his amnesia. So, of course, rumors had spread like wildfire and everyone knew what had happened.

Rinoa sighed heavily, it had been over a week since they had seen Squall last and she was beginning to wonder if they'd ever find him again. Sitting beside Rinoa at the cafeteria table Quistis sighed heavily. The young woman had yet to pass her exams because every time she sat down to study she thought about Squall and found it impossible to concentrate. At this rate she'd never become an instructor again and would be admitted into a rehabilitation center for obsessing over her missing friend in a few short years.

Beside Quistis, Selphie sighed. The Spring Festival was coming up soon and this usually excited the brunette, but all she could think about was Squall—whenever the subject of the festival came up she'd let out a long sigh and talk about how Squall had once almost agreed to help her with it. On the other side of the table Zell sighed. No Squall, no hotdogs, no Squall to order more hotdogs… life was unfair.

Irvine glanced around the table with deep annoyance. He was as worried about Squall as everyone else, maybe even more so, but he knew sitting around a table sighing piteously was not the answer. There must be some other way they could help Squall. They had been searching for their missing Commander nonstop for the past few days and hadn't come upon a single clue as to his whereabouts.

"Come on guys, don't give up yet," Irvine finally said, feeling the need to stop the self-pitying sighs of his friends, "Squall wouldn't want us to sit around depressing each other. Think, there must be someplace we haven't looked yet!"

Zell looked up from his plate of lasagna that he'd barely touched, "There isn't anywhere. We've searched Deling, Timber, Esthar, Dollet, we've even looked around Winhill."

"It's like he disappeared off the face of the planet," Rinoa agreed.

"Hey!" Selphie exclaimed suddenly, "Maybe he has!" Everyone turned to the spunky young brunette with confusion, "What if they went to the moon? Or maybe they have a space station like Sir Laguna's and they're hiding on that!"

There were several long seconds of pure silence as everyone continued to stare blankly at Selphie then, despite themselves, they burst into laughter. Selphie looked around indignantly, irritated that she wasn't being taken seriously.

"Well, it's a possibility, isn't it?" She demanded, scowling and giving Irvine a forceful look.

"Sure, baby, sure," Irvine agreed, "but seriously, why would they have been hiding in caves if they had a space station?"

Selphie slumped in her chair and crossed her arms with a pouting expression on her face, "I think it's a good idea…"

* * *

Squall Leonhart, or Sean Landen as he was known to his employers, walked briskly down the busy streets of Esthar. The collar of his thick gray jacket was turned up and a dark green cap shadowed half his face, like Deman had said it would be a miracle for anyone to recognize him. He wore faded black jeans and a gray-blue T-shirt under his jacket and was carrying a black plastic box under one arm.

(Yes, the great Squall Leonhart, Commander of the most feared resistance group in all Galbadia, the world even, was reduced to an underpaid delivery boy.) Squall chuckled slightly at the irony of it all. Deman had been against it, of course, "Can't you find something a little less conspicuous?" If it were up to Deman he'd be working in some old man's basement deep, deep under the city. Squall didn't understand what they were so worried about.

He glanced down at the paper taped to the top of the box again to double—well, triple check where he was going. Not surprisingly, it hadn't changed. Squall looked up again and continued swiftly along his way, not even giving the presidential palace a second glance as he walked past.

This callous lack of observance on Squall's part meant he failed to see a figure jump from the lift before it had even touched down and sprint away from the building. The figure failed to see Squall as well, looking over his shoulder at where the lift was already being called away. This mutual failure of observing each other in turn caused the two men to crash into each other, something that most definitely forced them each to acknowledge the other's existence.

Having trained for battle most of his life, Squall only stumbled back a few steps upon impact, although he lost his grip on the box he was carrying and it fell to the ground with a disturbing crashing sound akin to that of broken glass. The other man was apparently less balanced and fell back to the ground. Squall sighed and reluctantly reached out a hand to the fallen man, mumbling a barely audible apology as he helped him to his feet.

Squall had helped the other man halfway up before the man's eyes widened in surprise and he suddenly fell back to the ground almost pulling Squall down on top of him. Squall scowled in annoyance as he heaved the man to his feet again, quickly shaking off his hand and turning to retrieve his fallen package. He ignored the dumbfound expression that looked strangely at home on the man's face.

"Squall?" The man finally asked as he found his voice, quickly running to his side and helping him retrieve his package for the sole sake of getting a look at his face again.

Squall frowned, "Do I know you?"

"Squall! It is you!" The man exclaimed, a grin crossing his face as he looked down at the younger man.

(This is not good.) "Sorry, you must have me mistaken for someone else," Squall said quickly, grabbing his package from the man and starting to walk away, "my name's Sean."

The man looked shocked for a moment then started after him again; Squall glanced nervously over his shoulder to see the man gaining on him and began thinking about running himself. Just as he had decided it would be a good idea to start running, the older man was suddenly stopped by two more men dressed in long gowns.

"Squall, stop!" The man called desperately as the two men restrained him. Squall, of course, only started walking faster. He smirked slightly as he overheard a bit of the other men's comments, "Squall? What are you talking about, Laguna, Squall isn't here. You've really lost it—"

* * *

Cid sighed, it had been over two weeks since they had found Squall in Deling City and they were no closer to finding him now than they had been right after he disappeared again. The pile of papers that had been building up in his IN box since his Commander went missing wasn't helping his mood as he poured over a map covered with large, black Xs for what must be the thousandth time. Then, as if to add to his troubles, the phone rang.

"What?" Cid snapped, irritation finally getting the best of him.

"Sorry, must have the wrong number." The voice on the other end said, confusion evident in his tone.

Cid muttered a few choice words he couldn't remember having used in the past twenty years under his breath and hung up. He turned back to his map, (He wasn't anywhere on the Centra continent, nor in Galbadia… We even searched D-district and he wasn't anywhere to be found!) Cid collapsed back in his chair and wearily grabbed the top paper in the pile marked URGENT.

Just as he was beginning to skim over it the phone rang again. "Balamb Garden." He said wearily, he shouldn't have given his secretary the evening off but she had been working very hard lately.

"Cid?" The voice on the other end came through as a whisper, "Is that you?"

"Yes, this is Cid Kramer," Cid replied a bit uncertainly.

"Oh, great!" The voice exclaimed and he heard a loud thud, "Ow!" Cid frowned in confusion at the brief silence but before he could ask what was going on the voice continued, "Sorry, I'm calling you from under my desk. Kiros would flip if he knew I was telling you about this…"

(Ah, that explains it—) "President Loire," Cid presumed, a slight smile wrinkling his features, "I'm sorry but we haven't heard anything on Squall yet…"

"Cid, I've seen him!" Laguna's voice said excitedly.

"What? Where?" Cid asked, standing from his desk with sudden restlessness.

"I ran into him two days ago, right here in Esthar!" Laguna continued, his excited voice barely maintaining the range of a whisper, "Kiros and Ward don't believe it was actually him, but I saw him, it really was him!"

"But we already searched Esthar," Cid mumbled, more to himself than the man on the other end of the phone. "Then again, this is Squall, we might have missed him somehow…" Cid paused for a moment in thought then spoke louder again, "That's great, sir, we'll check it out right away. Do you have any idea where in Esthar he might be staying?"

"No," Laguna replied, "Kiros won't let me look, he says I have too much paperwork here to do. If you send some of his friends maybe you can have them break me out of here, too…"

Cid smirked, looking at his own overwhelming pile of paperwork; "I'll see what we can do, sir."

"Yeah, thanks, I—Shhh!" The other end of the line got strangely quiet and then he heard the president yelp, "Ah! I've gotta go, Cid, Kiros just walked in. You know, have to look busy! Bye!"

A dial tone sounded and Cid took a moment to imagine the fully grown but admittedly very childish president of Esthar crawling out of his desk and into his chair to try to fool his unarguably more observant aide… It would never work. Cid shook himself out of it and picked up the mike for the PA system.

"SeeDs Xu, Quistis and Zell, report to the Headmaster's office immediately." Now all he had to do was wait. "Repeat, SeeDs Xu, Quistis and Zell, report to the Headmaster's office."

* * *

Squall had been reluctant to tell Deman what had transpired between him and the man called Laguna but, like always, his friend had somehow managed to get the story out of him. Deman had been furious at the news and told Squall he couldn't go out in the city anymore. Squall, of course, had immediately rejected this idea, first starting with the benefits his working provided the group and, failing that, he had resorted to complaining that he would be too bored and his legs would get cramped and he'd never speak to Deman again. That said, Deman hadn't had a choice but was forced to allow his friend to continue working if he wished for him to remain his friend, although he had insisted Squall stay off the main streets for a couple of days at least.

Conceding, Squall had been in hiding for the better part of a week when Deman received word that SeeD was swarming the city again. The Egeslics were in no condition to fight, Deman knew that as did Squall and Eadig. The three men remained carefully hidden until the mercenary forces receded once more.

"Where do you think you're going?" Squall didn't allow his surprise at his friend's unexpected voice to show on his face.

"Out." He replied, looking directly at his friend who was concealed in the shadows near the door.

"If somebody sees you…" Deman took a step closer, his silhouette becoming visible as he came closer to the light.

"I can't stand sitting around not doing anything anymore," Squall snapped, cutting the other man off, "Nobody will see me, Deman, I assure you… And if anyone does, they will greatly regret the encounter."

Deman sighed, "Squall, please, don't draw attention to yourself whatever you do. You can go out now, but stay in the shadows and don't make a scene. If you're not back in an hour I'm sending people after you."

Squall nodded, deciding these were acceptable terms for even a temporary freedom, "Sure thing, boss." He continued walking again and started to climb the stairs right outside their room until Deman's voice halted him once more.

"Squall, I'm serious. Make sure no one sees you."

"You worry too much, Deman." Squall laughed, continuing up the stairs and through the heavy door at the top.

Squall had always enjoyed the comfortable atmosphere of Esthar at night—always being for the last three weeks, at least. Looking up at the darkened sky littered with thousands of tiny stars gleaming like diamonds Squall eyes quickly picked out numerous familiar constellations, something that had become almost an obsession to him once he had first seen the night sky. He felt as if he was looking for something in particular, but wasn't sure what it was.

Returning his attention to where he was going, Squall observed the abandoned street, carefully watching for any sign of people. He didn't expect to see anyone, especially not in this part of the city, but he didn't want to risk Deman's anger twice in one day. Slinking through the shadows, Squall approached the 'friendly' parts of the city, lights shining on still open storefronts or from the occasional lit up window.

There were a few more people in this part of town, but Squall was a master at not being seen so he easily made his way through the darkest parts of the streets, hardly noticed at all. It wasn't until the palace stood before him that Squall even realized where he was walking. He hesitated in his path, (Why did I come here?)

As if he were unable to control himself, he took another step forward. "I shouldn't be here…" He whispered to himself. Continuing to ignore his own warning Squall stepped forward again and again, creeping closer to the entrance, drawn on by something he couldn't explain.

His heart beat faster and he wondered if he'd see the man from before. That wouldn't be good… but part of him was curious and wanted to see this man that knew him again. He swallowed and quickened his pace.

He paused in front of the palace, standing directly in front of the lift, not caring who saw him in that moment. He just stood there, staring at it for a long moment as if he expected it to suddenly come to life and the brown haired man to come sprinting off of it again. Nothing of the like happened, however, and at length Squall decided to move on, scoffing at the silly notion.

A cold gust of wind suddenly reminded Squall it was the middle of the night and quite chilly out, he pulled the zipper on his jacket up to his neck and shoved his hands in his pockets. His walk didn't seem like nearly as peaceful as it had before and he wished he hadn't come out at all. He wasn't sure why, but he was actually disappointed he hadn't seen the man again. Squall glanced back over his shoulder, (It'll be faster just to go forward, now…)

Looking forward again, Squall stopped suddenly, staring at a lone figure sitting on a bench on the side of the road. He remained frozen, straining his eyes in an attempt to determine whom the figure was. (Can it really be…?)

Squall hesitated before walking forward again. Deman would be angry if he knew what he was about to do. The man on the bench didn't look up at his approach, but his gaze seemed to be focused on something else—the stars, Squall supposed.

"Excuse me," Squall muttered nervously, stopping just to the side of the bench. The man jumped in surprise and then relaxed slightly when he saw whom it was. "Do you mind?" Squall asked.

"Huh? Oh, no, go ahead," the man replied, sounding both nervous and a little confused himself. He slid over on the bench to make room for Squall to join him.

Squall nervously kept his eyes on his lap. He wasn't sure why he felt so uncomfortable about the man, but now that he had found him he wasn't about to leave with nothing. "We've met before. I said my name was Sean… but I guess you already know it's not."

The man nodded, "Yeah… They told me what happened, Squall. I'm so sorry."

Squall shrugged vaguely, "It's no big deal, I'm fine now." There was a long pause in which neither man spoke and then: "I overheard… Your name is Laguna, right?"

Laguna nodded.

"How… how do you know me?" Squall asked tentatively.

"Well, Squall," Laguna started, if anything looking even more nervous than before, "I'm your, uh, dad."

"What?" Squall demanded, his temper suddenly raging as he jumped up from the bench, stormy eyes looking down at the now frightened man. "You can't be my father! My father is dead!" Squall grimaced as his head began throbbing again. "He told me all about what happened, my father was murdered a year ago!"

"Squall, I—" Laguna started but Squall cut him off.

"No! You can't be my father, I don't know what you think you'll gain by lying to me like that, but I won't let you trick me! I—" His head was really burning now, (How do I know this man?)

Squall clutched at his head in a futile attempt to block out the searing pain of his thoughts. Laguna took this opportunity to approach him, "Squall, are you okay?" He asked, even though it was very obvious the teenage man was not okay.

"It's... Impossible." Squalls suddenly looked up, fighting for control of his emotions he resorted to the one emotion that was easiest to feel, anger. He wasn't really sure who he was angry at or for what, but without even thinking he slammed his fist into the side of the man's head with a satisfying crack.

Laguna's head snapped to the side with the punch and he collapsed to the ground in shock. Squall, still clutching his forehead with one hand chose this moment to take his exit, running away down the street to where Deman was no doubt preparing to send out the legions like he had promised.

Laguna watched the younger man's retreating back for a moment before pulling a small radio box out of his pocket, "Hey, guys, you might not believe this, but guess who I was just talking to…" He paused a moment while the other responded, "Yeah, that's right. He just turned off Victory Street…"

* * *

Deman looked up as Squall exploded through the door at the bottom of the stairwell. His dark expression lightened slightly at the anxious look on the brunette's face.

"Squall?" He asked with concern, regarding the panting teen.

"Uh, Deman," Squall started in between gasps of air, "I think… I just wore out our welcome…"

Deman's face darkened again, "What did I tell you before you went out?" He demanded. Upon getting no response from his guilty looking friend he continued, "Didn't I specifically warn you not to get into trouble?"

Squall nodded meekly and Deman sighed, "Alright, what did you do?"

Squall hesitated a moment before steeling himself over for what he had to say, "I saw that guy from outside the palace again tonight. He... said some things that disturbed me and... I punched him."

"Is that all?" Deman questioned, preparing himself mentally for the worst.

Squall was silent for a long time and then finally responded in a low voice: "I was being followed on the way back."

Deman tried to keep his face calm and collected but Squall saw a small frown forming on his friend's lips, a sure sign he was worried. "Okay, well… Who was the guy you punched?"

"His name was Laguna," Squall explained, finally looking up, "I thought you might know him because he said he knew about what happened, but then…"

"Then what, Squall?" Deman pressed, mentally searching his brain for any Lagunas he might have known—the name did seem familiar.

"He said he was my father." Squall finished. His eyes flashed up to meet Deman's, "But that can't be, can it? My father is dead, right?"

"That's right Squall," Deman confirmed, "Your father died the night we were betrayed by SeeD, this Laguna must have been lying, but why?" His frown deepened over the course of a long silence and then he continued, "The only Laguna I can think of is Laguna Loire, he's the president of Esthar, which would explain why you would have been followed after assaulting him."

"Why would the president claim to be my father?" Squall wondered out loud.

"There's no way to know," Deman admitted with a shrug, trying to act less worried than he felt, "but I don't think we want to wait around here to find out. Go find Eadig, I'll meet you with a car outside town. I know a guy with a boat that can get us far away from any false claims."

Squall nodded and quickly ran past Deman to search for the man's brother. Deman watched the door swing shut behind him, (Is it possible? Can Laguna Loire really be the father of Squall Leonhart? As much as we searched we could never find any record of a father…) He shook his head to clear it of the thoughts, it wasn't like it mattered anymore anyway, and ran from the room to find a car.


	5. V

Summary: It's about five months since the end of the game, Squall Leonhart has been forced into the role of an international icon, and out of active duty. He finally gets the opportunity to go on another mission, but what happens when things go wrong and he's taken prisoner? Will Squall's friends find him? And what happens when it seems he doesn't want to be found?

Disclaimer: I have no claim over the persons and locations of Final Fantasy VIII, but I do claim complete responsibility over the last 11 months that I didn't update. Sorry.

A/N: I'm kind of frustrated with ffnet right now. Because everytime I upload my chapters the word count is all messed up from what it should be. For example, this chapter was originally 7179 words, but ffnet thought it was 7154. Which was the closest count I've gotten to date. I think the worst count was when I only got a page of my chapter... It _seems_ to have included the content, though, so I'm going to hope there's a logical explanation for that.

There are only nine chapters in this story, so I'm planning on getting it all edited and posted by the end of the year (that is to say, December 2006). I'm just not very motivated because I haven't played FFVIII for quite a while now and I've moved on to be obsessed with other things now. Still, I can't stand leaving this uncompleted, it makes me feel guilty, so I'll do my best to get the finished work up here by Christmas. I'd also like to say a quick thanks to the one reviewer I got on the last chapter, Jayliyah85. Thanks for taking the time to review.

**V.**

"Sir Laguna!" Selphie called, quickly running up to the older man and helping him to his feet. The majority of the SeeD force had pulled out of the city, but a small group had stayed, this being their only lead on finding their friend and comrade.

"Are you alright?" Quistis asked with concern, regarding the man quizzically as he gently touched the tender area around his left eye—she could already see a bruise coming on.

"I'm fine!" Laguna said, "Worry about Squall right now!"

"Right," Zell agreed, "Kiros and Ward can take care of Laguna, the rest of us should go after Squall, we don't want to lose him again."

Irvine and Quistis nodded their agreement and the three of them ran down the street Laguna had reported their friend disappearing down. Selphie gave one last worried glance at Sir Laguna's swollen eye and followed after her friends.

Laguna watched them leave, praying they'd be able to make it in time. He knew he should have called them right away when he saw Squall, but he had hoped he could talk a little sense into his son himself. Obviously, it hadn't worked that well. A large shadow fell over him and he looked up to see Kiros and Ward standing in front of him.

"Cid warned you he was dangerous," Kiros noted, scanning the president quickly to make sure his black eye was the worst of his injuries.

"Wha? Oh you mean this?" Laguna asked, pointing to his eye and grinning, "I couldn't even feel it!"

Kiros gave him a skeptical look, "This coming from the man who bawled for three hours straight after getting a sliver in his finger."

Laguna quickly opened his mouth to protest, "That was no sliver!" He argued, "It was as big as a house! It was a gargantuan among planks! It was gigantic! And besides, it was in my thumb, not my finger."

Kiros smirked and shook his head in amusement before taking the proffered ice bag from Ward. "It was two centimeters long," Kiros stated, quickly pressing the bag against the president's eye.

"Ow!" Laguna exclaimed, squirming away from the contact, "Be careful with that thing, Kiros!"

Kiros rolled his eyes and exchanged a look with Ward, "So much for our fearless leader."

Ward nodded grinning widely and gave Laguna a superior look.

Laguna in turn glared at Ward and snatched the ice bag from Kiros, defiantly placing it over his eye, "Who's the wuss now?" He demanded, doing his best to mask the pain.

Ward just grinned even more widely and followed his fearless leader back to the palace.

* * *

"Eadig! There you are!" Squall exclaimed, finally catching sight of the other man's back leaving the room he had just entered. The younger man paused and turned back to Squall.

"Squall, what's up?" He asked.

Having wasted no time to catch up with his younger counterpart, Squall grabbed him by the arm and started dragging him from the room, "No time to explain, Deman says we gotta get out. Now."

Eadig nodded with understanding and was soon leading Squall from the building. The two of them climbed the stairs in absolute silence, bursting out into the dark night of Esthar.

"So, we meet again. Eadig, was it?" Irvine, gun in his hand, stood before them, blocking their escape, with Selphie to one side and Zell to the other.

The seventeen year old's eyes narrowed and his hand fell on the hilt of his katana, ready to draw at a moment's notice. "I guess Hilder wasn't able to kill you last time. A mistake we'll have to make up for Squall?"

Squall nodded in agreement, unsheathing his Revolver and holding it up in a threatening manner. "No one's going to stand between me and my friends."

"But we're your friends, Squall!" Selphie blurted out quickly, a worried look across her features.

Squall's brow creased as a faint image flashed in his mind (Was that…?) His attempts to concentrate on the figure in the image proved in vain as it faded completely from his mind only to be replaced with a searing pain. Squeezing his eyes shut he focused on stopping the pain but was distracted by the voices of the three strangers.

"Squall, are you okay, man?" A loud male voice questioned.

"Oh my gosh, Squall! I'm sorry!" A young woman's this time, laced with worry and concern.

Squall's frown deepened and he did the only thing he could think of to erase the thoughts in his mind, he ran forward and attacked the closest member of the three SeeDs. Irvine and Zell gasped in shock and Selphie collapsed to her knees with a cry of pain.

"Sefie, are you alright?" Irvine asked, mentally searching his store of magic for a curative spell.

"I'm fine," Selphie replied, pushing herself back to her feet.

"Squall?" Eadig asked with concern, casting his friend a sidelong glance to make sure he was alright.

Squall was breathing hard but his face had hardened and his steely eyes were calm despite the anger Eadig could see beneath the surface. "I'm fine," Squall rasped, readying his gunblade for a second attack to accentuate his point, "I've got it under control."

Eadig attacked Selphie as well, his sharp blade slicing into her and staining her yellow dress with blood. Irvine, having found the desired spell, quickly cast a Cura on the smaller girl. Zell's eyes glazed over and his mouth moved ever so slightly as he mentally repeated a focusing chant to summon his Guardian Force, Ifrit; and Selphie, back on her feet threw her Shinobou with amazing strength at Eadig.

"Why do you people keep following me?" Squall growled, attacking Irvine this time.

"Squall…"

Squall froze as another image flashed in his mind's eye; a picture of himself, weeping on a cold stone floor_ (Squall…)_ His eyes flashed up at his opponent, it was the same voice. (What does this mean?)

"You… you were there." Squall stammered, confusion filling his gray eyes again as he looked at the sharpshooter.

"Squall, what are you talking about? He was where?" Eadig asked, frowning and narrowing his eyes at the SeeD.

"I don't know," Squall admitted, his head burning as he tried to put his thoughts in order, "I just… I think I remember…" He stammered, now dropping his gunblade in favor of holding his throbbing head together. His pained eyes met with Irvine's, "Cold… Pain… Empty… And his voice. Eadig?"

Irvine was holding his breath, waiting anxiously to see what Squall would do next. He remembered the exact moment Squall was talking about, it was burned into his head and he'd never be able to forget it, but what if Squall took his presence the wrong way? What if Squall assumed since he was there he had also hurt him?

"You remember?" Eadig echoed, concern on his face but for a different reason than the worry that filled the SeeDs. He quickly pushed his own anxiousness away and his mind raced for a plausible thing to say, "Then… he was there, when you were being tortured." Eadig surmised, trying desperately to sound like he believed what he was saying even though he knew it couldn't be possible, "Maybe he's the one…"

Squall was on his knees now, trying to make sense of the elusive memory, trying to focus on his emotions—something proving to be extremely difficult at the moment. "It's… it's not like that," Squall managed, his eyes turning from Eadig back to the SeeD, almost pleading for help to unravel his hidden past, "It's… Hyne, I don't know…"

"Squall, it's me. It's Irvine, do you know where you are?"

"Do I…?" Squall looked at the man in confusion.

"I'll stay with you through this, Squall."

Squall held his head with more force, trying to stop the ever worsening pain, (Why do his words sound so familiar?)

"What're friends for?… I'm here, Squall."

Squall clenched his eyes shut, not noticing the blood dripping down his face and onto the pavement below him as he tried to block everything out. (What is going on? Who is this man? Irvine…)

"Squall!" A hand shaking Squall's shoulder broke his concentration like a rock shattering a window and the pain was suddenly gone leaving a dull throbbing behind. "Squall, snap out of it!"

Squall smiled faintly up at Eadig's worried face and tiredly stumbled to his feet, the memory completely erasing from his mind as if he'd never seen it, "What… happened?" Squall asked, thinking back at the fuzzy memories of the last five minutes.

Eadig's lips tightened into a thin line and at length he replied, "It doesn't matter. Squall, you're in no condition to fight, I want you to go meet up with Deman on your own."

"But Eadig," Squall said, frowning at his friend's proposition, "you'll need help."

"I'll be fine on my own." Eadig argued, gently pushing Squall away from him and the others, "Just go!"

Squall started running obediently, one hand pressed to his forehead and the other clutched onto the hilt of his Revolver which he didn't remember picking up again.

"Squall, wait!" Irvine called after him, longing to run after him but knowing they'd have to deal with the other man first.

Squall didn't stop and soon disappeared around a corner while the SeeDs were forced to turn their attention back to Eadig.

Reaching one of the less used lifts out of the city at a dead run, Squall quickly inputted the proper information to activate the lift. He saw Deman almost immediately, leaning against an old light blue convertible and glancing at his watch anxiously. The older man spotted him as he ran over and quickly got into the driver's seat, ready to leave at a moment's notice.

"Where's Eadig?" Deman asked even before Squall had managed to seat himself in the passenger seat next to him.

"We ran into some trouble," Squall said, "SeeD. Eadig told me to meet up with you myself, he's holding them off."

Deman frowned and looked Squall over again, this time taking into account his pale skin and weary appearance. "You're hurt." He noted as his eyes took in the blood running down the side of Squall's face.

"Yeah," Squall quickly wiped the blood on the sleeve of his jacket, "I guess whatever happened before happened again. I'm not quite sure what it was, I hardly remember anything."

Deman nodded in understanding, "Kyle's on standby at a dock less than fifteen miles from here, he'll take us to a safe place where we'll lie low until all this commotion dies down." He turned the key in the ignition and the engine roared to life.

"What about Eadig?" Squall asked.

"He's a big boy, he can take care of himself." Deman answered, "Besides, there's nothing we can do for him now. We just need to wait this out." And with that he sped off toward the shore.

* * *

"Don't give me any of that crap! Where is he?" Zell exploded, pounding his fist down on the table.

"I don't know where he is!" Eadig shouted back, rising from his seat on the other side of the table, clearly as tired of these questions as the other man.

"Zell, calm down or Cid'll have you removed," Irvine said, putting a hand on the blonde's shoulder. Zell glared at Eadig and turned to look at the other wall while he tried to calm himself down. Eadig slowly eased himself back into his own seat and Irvine turned back to him.

"Alright, Eadig, so you don't know where he is, I believe you. But I know you know what happened to him and I want you to tell me at least that. What did you do to Squall?" His tone was fairly conversational up until the last question which carried a distinct edge that Eadig easily picked up on.

Eadig shrugged absent mindedly, leaning back in his chair, "What do you mean? All we did was befriend him when he was lost and alone, can't blame a guy for being nice, can you?"

Now it was Irvine's turn to get angry and his voice held a barely controlled fire, "You know what I mean," he growled, "you were there. You tortured him, you did… something to him. What was it and how do we fix it?"

"I have no idea what you're talking about." Eadig stated, "If anyone tortured him, as you say, they must've done it before we got to him. Like I said before, all we did was befriend the poor fellow."

The sharpshooter was almost shaking with bottled up anger, "I know it was you," he hissed, "I saw you."

Eadig chuckled, "That's ridiculous." He laughed, "Even if we had done anything, and I'm not saying we did, how would you have been able to see us? I never saw you before that night you attacked our base."

Irvine sighed, taking off his hat and wiping his forehead on his sleeve, this was getting really old. They'd been over the same subject matter countless times in the last hour or so and hadn't made any progress. According to Cid's time limit they would only be given another ten minutes with the prisoner and then they'd have to leave. It was time for a different approach.

"You say you befriended him," Irvine stated, "does that mean you consider him a friend?"

Eadig shrugged again, "Sure, Squall's a pretty cool guy. At least he is when you guys aren't messing with his head. He kinda grows on you."

"Then as his friend shouldn't you try to help him? Let's pretend for a moment that what you say is true and you didn't do anything to him, then wouldn't you want to help reverse whatever it is someone else did to him?" Irvine asked.

Eadig leaned forward on the table, "Before we took Squall into our confidence we did a little research, you'd be amazed at the things we found out. From what I understand he was a loner, he didn't play well with others, an antisocial jerk thrown into a hero position.

"Now, my friend Squall is nothing like that. He confides in us, tells us what he's been up to, how he's feeling. He jokes, he laughs, he gets angry and most importantly he has fun. I know about his life now and I know about his life when he was with you guys. What kind of a friend would I be if I wanted to put him back in that kind of a life?" Eadig finished, leaning back in his chair again, "He's happy with us, why can't you guys just leave him be?"

"We're his friends," Irvine managed to grind out, "and not through some twisted experiment to erase his memories. We became his friends the good old fashioned way, by getting to know him and talking to him and I know Squall appreciated that, he valued each of us—kind of like how he values you now only not with all the lies and deceit."

"When will you understand?" Eadig asked, "Squall doesn't want to be friends with SeeDs anymore. He doesn't want his old life back and I don't blame him. You heard what he said, he wants you to leave him alone, to get out of his life forever."

Irvine glared at the other man with such an intensity that if looks could kill he'd be nothing but a pile of ashes.

"Let's go, Irvine, he's not going to tell us anything this way." Zell said, putting a hand on his friend's shoulder and trying to be sensible despite his own furry.

Tight lipped and exceedingly disgruntled, Irvine gave a sharp nod and preceded Zell from the room.

"You think you know Squall," Zell said, "but you really don't. You don't know what Squall wants, even he doesn't know what he wants. All you've done is taken away his choice. Some friend."

Eadig didn't allow his smug expression to vanish until the blonde had followed his friend from the room and left him alone. He sighed, placing his arms on the table and resting his head forward on top of them. He wasn't sure at all anymore what was right, (Things have gotten so complicated…)

* * *

"Deman, I'm bored."

"I know," Deman practically growled, "You've been telling me so for the last three days."

Squall yawned as he flipped over another card, successfully winning what felt like his hundredth game of Solitaire. He stacked the cards back up and began shuffling, ready for another boring game of cards.

"Was it really necessary to come all the way out here?" Squall questioned for what Deman felt was the hundredth time.

"Well whenever we're anywhere around people you always seem to mess things up." Deman retorted, not looking up from his book—his only source of sanity while cooped up with a bored Squall.

Squall was silent for a moment with a slight frown at his friend's accusations. Deman fully enjoyed this silence but knew it was too good to last. "But couldn't we at least have gone to a small town? No one would think to look for us in Dollet. Or maybe Timber, there are enough resistance groups there that no one would notice another."

"Squall, we are where we are," Deman explained a little louder than necessary, "there's no use discussing other hiding places right now because we don't have any way off this rock. We might be here for a while so get used to it; Kyle will pick us up when the commotion dies down."

Another short silence followed this and then: "Yeah but you've got that radio thing, right? You can use that to contact Kyle and he can pick us up early, maybe drop us off on some inhabited part of the world."

"Will you shut up already?" Deman shouted, tossing his book across the room to hit the inattentive Squall in the side of the head in a bout of rage, "If you're so bored go kill some monsters or something! It's like Hyne's trying to get back at me or something, I swear!"

Squall, who had been clutching the side of his head where the book hit, stood up very suddenly, leaving the cards around him in a mess. "You know what, I think I will! I don't know how Eadig could possibly stand growing up in the same house as you, he probably wanted to stay behind just to get away from your abuse!" With that the disgruntled teen stalked out of the room.

Deman rolled his eyes after him and picked up his book to start reading again. It wasn't the first time this had happened in their week of staying together, both of them were tense and having nothing to do wasn't helping matters. They were both really worried about Eadig, they would have heard something from him by now if he'd managed to escape so they could only assume he was dead—or worse.

Squall stepped out of the stone building they had made their temporary home and into a ring of ruins. He knew he shouldn't be getting mad at Deman like that, it was his own fault they were out here in the middle of nowhere, he just couldn't stand the idea of sitting idle while one of his closest friends was in mortal danger and didn't see how Deman could take it so easily. He had to wonder how long they had waited before trying to rescue him and if Eadig would share his fate. He shuddered at the thought.

Squall started forward through the ruins, pulling out his gunblade as he went. The ruins slowly gave way to plains and soon he was able to push his thoughts out of his head in favor of hunting down the fiercest beast he could find. Battle could always clear his head but there were still a few things nagging him at the back of his mind. If this place was good for anything it would be to give him an opportunity to question Deman a little further about his past, something he intended to do in the near future.

* * *

"It's like he just fell off the face of the planet." Irvine commented, playing with the glass of rum in front of him for a moment before drinking it down.

"I know," Zell agreed in an equally morbid state but considerably more sober, "and it's made even worse cause _he's_ still here. He knows where they went, he just won't tell us."

"Zell, he can't know where they went," Quistis commented, moving the bottle of rum away from Irvine before he could pour himself anymore and unwittingly giving it to Rinoa who didn't even bother putting it in a glass. "We used lie detectors, it would have told us if he was lying about that."

"With enough effort you can learn to trick those things," Nida, who had joined this particular pity-party, commented, "he could be lying and we wouldn't even know it."

"See? That proves it!" Zell exclaimed, rising from the table with excitement, "He does know where Squall is! I'm going to force it from him even if—"

"Even if what, Zell?" Rinoa asked in a dull monotonous tone that had become far too familiar since Squall's disappearance, "Would you really torture it out of him? Would you stoop to their level like that?"

Zell slumped back down in his seat, "I guess not…"

Quistis removed the mostly empty bottle from Rinoa's hand and held it firmly in front of herself to prevent her friends from drinking anymore. "They're not in Esthar anymore, we know that much, and I doubt they'd return to Deling City this soon, either." She commented, "That narrows down the search a little bit." Quistis absent-mindedly took a drink from the bottle and immediately regretted it.

"Yuck!" She coughed, holding the bottle away from herself as if it might attack her, "How can you guys drink this stuff? It's awful!"

Irvine plucked the bottle from her hand and swallowed the remaining rum, "It's an acquired taste." He explained.

* * *

Once again Squall was sitting on the floor playing a game of Solitaire while Deman sat in a chair watching him. Deman had taught Squall another new card game to fend off his complaints for a while so he was watching over his shoulder while Squall attempted to win a game of Spider Solitaire in full colors. Not an easy task as the teenager had quickly learned.

"Wai—oh, you shouldn't have done that yet." Deman commented as Squall dealt another ten cards to his piles.

"I know how to play, Deman," Squall muttered dryly as he moved his cards around some more, "you can stop helping me."

Deman sat back in his chair, "Suit yourself but at this rate you'll never win."

"You know that Laguna guy—the one who claimed to be my father?" Squall said suddenly.

"Yes, what about him?" Deman asked, suddenly on his guard.

"Well, I was just thinking, what if he really is," Squall said, not taking his eyes off the cards to promote a semblance of nonchalance.

"You know that's ridiculous, Squall," Deman commented, "your father died at the side of my own. We watched the execution, it isn't something I'm likely to forget."

"I know that," Squall said with a bit of irritation, "but I was just thinking, what if that man wasn't really my father at all."

"What do you mean?" Deman questioned, growing intrigued at Squall's line of thoughts.

"I mean, what if this Loire guy really is my father and I was only adopted into the Leonhart family," Squall embellished, "It's possible, right? How long have you actually known me?" He quickly cut Deman off before he could reply, "Since we were kids, I know, but at what age? Since I was born?"

"No," Deman answered hesitantly, "not since you were born, per say. I first met you when I was three, you were only a baby then, but you could've been almost a year old."

"So then you don't know for sure I was born to Michelangelo," Squall commented.

"I guess it would make sense," Deman replied reluctantly, "I mean, I always thought you had a family resemblance with your dad, but it's possible it's just a coincidence. It sounds as good as any theory for that Loire to claim he's your father, though. But why wouldn't your dad have told you, then?"

Squall shrugged, "I guess he thought I didn't need to know. After all, from what you've told me I fit pretty well into my family, I guess I never would have suspected unless I met my real father."

"Keep in mind, it is just a theory," Deman warned, "I won't be convinced until I see the blood tests."

Squall laughed, momentarily forgetting his card game, "Yeah, well, I doubt that will be anytime soon."

"Agreed, so let's just forget it for now, okay?" Deman suggested, "You want to put your ten there."

Squall looked back down at his cards then glared up at Deman, "You're not supposed to be helping, remember?"

"Okay, okay! Don't put your ten there if you don't want to."

Squall glared at him for a moment longer then moved the ten. He continued playing in silence for a while longer until he was forced to admit defeat and reshuffle the cards. After shuffling, instead of dealing out another game, Squall set the decks off to the side and looked up at Deman, waiting patiently for him to look up from his book.

Deman did glance up noticing the distinct lack of card sounds that had become so familiar and noticed Squall looking at him, "Is something wrong?"

"I was just thinking," Squall said, "about Irvine and those other SeeDs."

"Uh-oh," Deman voiced, "you know what that's good for."

"Yeah, a killer headache," Squall agreed, "but I think you know more about them than you're telling me." He insisted, ignoring the faint buzzing in his head that he knew would intensify if he tried to search his own memory for information on them. "They seem somehow familiar, that Irvine guy especially."

"The SeeDs that captured you?" Deman suggested with an innocent expression.

Squall raised an eyebrow, "Unlikely," he replied, "they seemed friendly."

"They probably want to lure you back." Deman reasoned.

"Alright, you humored my theory, I'll humor yours." Squall allowed, "It's possible, I guess, that if they're the ones who tortured me and… did whatever it is they did to me, then they might want me back. I suppose I'd have secrets in my head that could expose them." Deman nodded his agreement.

"I'll allow it for everyone except Irvine," Squall continued, "the others, I don't know, but when I heard his voice… I don't know how to explain it," his head was starting to burn again just at the memory but he didn't care, he needed answers, "it was comforting somehow. I highly doubt I'd be comforted by the voice of my torturer."

"So… you think he's a friend?" Deman asked skeptically, "Then why is he siding with the enemy and not at your side?"

"I… don't know." Squall admitted, "I'm not sure what it means. Maybe he's not a friend at all, but I don't think he tortured me and I do think I know him from before."

"But you can't remember him." Deman guessed.

"No, I can't." Squall confirmed reluctantly, "It's just a feeling, I still can't remember anything before waking up to see you."

"Still, you can't ignore your feelings, can you?" Deman asked. Squall shook his head, looking once more at the stone floor beneath him. "Well, maybe this Irvine guy was with you when they had you captured. Maybe you identify comfort with his voice because he fed you or made sure you were cared for enough not to die. Someone had to have been looking out for you back there or you probably wouldn't have been alive when we found you. Maybe this Irvine is the guy."

"Then… why would he want me to go back to them?" Squall asked, "If he wanted to help me, why would he want me to go back to the ones that hurt me?"

"Whether or not he gave you aide in their custody, Squall, he's still a SeeD." Deman stated, "Once a SeeD, always a SeeD, he can't just ignore a direct order to bring you in if that's what it came to."

Squall nodded, "I guess so," he agreed. He rubbed at his temple with his left hand, massaging away the pain that had built up, "Hyne, this is all so confusing, Deman. Why can't I just remember? What did they do to me?"

Deman sighed and rose from his chair to go to his friend's side. He pulled Squall gently into his arms, embracing the other man who was blinking back a few tears that he refused to let fall. "I know it is," he agreed, fighting against his instinct to tell him everything he knew. His heart was aching seeing the man he had grown so close to—despite his best efforts to keep him away—in such a wrecked emotional state and he wished there was a way he could fix it. He wished he had never listened to Eadig and agreed to test out his microchip, he could have had Squall killed and be done with it.

"I wish you didn't have to go through this, Squall," he whispered, rubbing circles on his friend's back. (How did he manage to get close to my heart so fast?) He may have been deemed the bad guy, he knew it was wrong to have taken Squall's life away from him, but he was still human and as such had feelings. Feelings that had developed into a friendship with a man who was supposed to be his enemy.

"I wish they would just leave you be, I wish they'd let you rest in peace." Deman continued. Squall sighed tiredly and he leaned into his friend's embrace, finding comfort in the love of this man that was so close to him. "I'm sorry, Squall, for everything." Deman whispered into his ear, "I wish… you would forgive me."

Squall shook his head, "Deman there is nothing to forgive, nothing for you to be sorry for. You acted as you thought best for your team, I would expect no less. I'm just glad you didn't let me die, I'm glad I had a second opportunity to know you."

The words spoken unwittingly by the brunette struck Deman to the heart and he immediately regretted his earlier thoughts of killing Squall. He was glad to have gotten to know Squall, too, and had to admit he was glad he didn't kill him. Despite Squall's ignorance to the situation he had found himself in the middle of Deman took these words to heart, at least he knew the other man cared for him like he cared back. He slowly released the smaller man.

"Squall, I'm glad you didn't die, too, I am glad for this second opportunity to know you."

* * *

"Guys! Guys!" A very excited Selphie darted into the room where the rest of the gang was currently moping, several empty beer bottles laying on the table told everyone of their hopeless state of mind. Zell and Irvine were looking quite drunk and even Quistis—who claimed to hate the stuff—seemed a bit tipsy much to the boys' chagrin.

"What is it, Sefie?" Zell asked, barely raising his head off the table

"We're leaving again! We're meeting up with the White SeeD ship in less than an hour so you better all get packed!" Selphie exclaimed, practically bouncing up and down with unleashed energy the likes of which hadn't been seen in over a month.

"The White SeeD ship?" Quistis repeated, frowning in confusion.

"What do they want?" Rinoa asked, voicing the concern of the majority.

Selphie grinned wider, "It's a surprise! I overheard while I was in Cid's office but he said I couldn't tell anyone."

"Well, better get a move on." Irvine muttered, standing and swaying slightly in the process.

"If we're going anywhere you'd better find some coffee for these three," Rinoa nodded in the general direction of Irvine, Zell and Quistis, "They've had a few too many drinks this morning, and it isn't even ten."

Selphie laughed, "If all goes well they might be having these kind of parties a lot less in the future!"

Everyone had moved with incredible speed after that while trying to make it seem like they weren't anxious. They each secretly hoped it was good news on Squall's whereabouts—they hadn't heard a thing for almost a month—but were hesitant to ask or voice their hopes out of fear that it wasn't. Needless to say, everyone was ready and waiting within the hour when they docked with the White SeeD ship.

A call over the PA system a short time after docking beckoned the six friends to the Captain's Cabin on the ship and they eagerly made their way there. Everyone seemed to be anxious, Balamb Garden was practically exploding with tenseness as everyone wondered and hoped at what this unusual meeting was about and the five friends could barely contain their own excitement—no matter what their sobriety was.

"—It's not a sure thing, but we think it's enough to check out more thoroughly," the young White SeeD captain was saying as they entered.

Cid nodded, "Yes, it's the best lead we've had in a long time."

"Then it is about—" Quistis broke off, not daring to finish the question for fear her hopes would be dashed.

Cid grinned widely, his eyes crunching up in the effect, "Yes, they think they might have found a lead for Squall." He confirmed.

Grins spread out all around and everyone started asking questions at once until Cid raised his hands to stop them. "Now, now, I know we're all very eager to hear the news but you can't all start talking at once. Captain Odeli will brief us all on what he knows."

"Thank you," the captain said, nodding to Cid before turning to the others, "As you know, the children are partial to the Centra area and thus we spend a great deal of time in the waters around those islands." Everyone nodded, "Everything seemed quite normal up to a day and a half ago," the captain continued, "we were rounding the point when we saw something most unusual in the middle of the ruins.

"Smoke." He paused for a moment to see how everyone was receiving this information, "Just a small amount of smoke, enough for a campfire of some kind. We contacted Cid to see if he had heard any clues to Commander Leonhart's whereabouts and when he said he hadn't we immediately suspected it might be him. Cid suggested we come back here to retrieve the five of you before investigating further."

"I didn't want any lives to be wasted needlessly," Cid explained, "we already know how dangerous Squall is and we know by reputation that Deman is also extremely dangerous. The White SeeDs are not necessarily a fighting elite, most of the passengers consist of children so I did not want to risk their livelihood."

"You understand it is a long shot," Odeli said, "it could be nothing or it could be some stranger."

"But it could be Squall." Zell said to which the others nodded their agreement.

"When can we leave?" Rinoa asked.

"Immediately," the Captain replied before turning briefly to Cid, "with your permission."

* * *

Squall was sitting in the chair reading the book Deman had already read several times while Deman himself was now on the floor playing a game of Solitaire to add to the many he had already completed. Squall turned the page and read over the last couple of paragraphs of the book and sighed, dropping the object to the ground.

"I don't see how you can read this book so many times," Squall said, "it's boring."

Deman shrugged, not looking up from his cards, "Yes, it does get rather dull after the third or fourth reading… I don't see how you can play this game, I'm likely to fall asleep on top of the cards if I play for much longer."

Squall chuckled, "It is extremely repetitive," he admitted, "but it's better than this. At least it formulates problem solving skills."

"And reading increases your knowledge and vocabulary." Deman stated, moving around his cards a little more until he found he had won.

"It doesn't if you've read it all several times." Squall argued, "At least every game of Solitaire is a little different."

"Oh come on, you must have played through every possible deal by now," Deman said, stacking the cards back into their deck.

"I think I might have," Squall agreed, "every game is looking disturbingly familiar."

Deman laid the cards aside and stretched, "Might as well kill some monsters…"

"Hyne, even that is getting predictable." Squall said with a sigh but he pushed himself out of his chair anyway as Deman rose to his feet.

"Yeah, but at least it's something." Deman stated, "I'm about ready to take your advice and radio Kyle to see what's up."

"Even though the transmission might be intercepted?" Squall asked, recalling the reasoning Deman had given him for not doing just that.

"Even though," Deman agreed, "I'd almost welcome an attack, at least it would be a change from the monotonous repeating of life here."

"I've been telling you that for weeks." Squall noted.

Out on the plains the dialogue wore down as Squall and Deman concentrated on their kills and it wasn't until they'd taken out a particularly determined Forbiddon that Squall noticed something strange on the horizon. Deman was wiping off his blade when Squall first saw the speck. He watched it for a few moments silently, noting the rate at which it grew larger.

"Deman, is that Kyle's ship?" Squall finally asked, eyes never leaving the small vessel.

Deman looked up and followed Squall's line of vision, "I'm not sure, it's too far away to tell." Deman said.

"If it is I'm going to kill him for not coming earlier," Squall said.

Deman chuckled, "Then who's going to take us back to civilization? Surely you've never captained a ship before." Squall didn't reply to this and they both watched the approaching vehicle for several more moments before Deman turned back to the ruins. "Come on, we'll get the binoculars and check it out."

Squall nodded and followed.

* * *

"It isn't Kyle's ship," Deman announced, adjusting the focus of the binoculars.

"Then what is it?" Squall asked.

"Well it is a ship, but it's too large and all done in white," Deman said, "let's hope they don't know we're here."

"How would they?" Squall asked, "We've never seen that ship before."

"I don't know," Deman lowered the binoculars and allowed Squall to take them from his hands, "but I have a bad feeling about this, Squall."

Squall lowered the binoculars as well once he had gotten a look at the approaching vehicle, "Well, there's nothing we can do but wait for now."

Deman nodded his agreement and placed the binoculars Squall had handed back to him on the ground, "They should be here in little more than an hour at the speed they're going—if this is really where they're headed."

Squall nodded and pulled a deck of cards from his jacket pocket and began setting it up for another boring game of Solitaire. As old as the card games had gotten, it was still better than sitting around doing nothing.

Time passed slowly for the duo waiting in the Centra ruins. The ship seemed to creep closer and closer; every time they would look up it would be slightly larger but it still seemed to be moving excruciatingly slow. Squall had fetched a second deck of cards and the two men had played several games of double Solitaire before their hour of waiting seemed almost up.

They could see the ship anchoring not far from the shore and much to the men's dismay a smaller boat was being lowered from it's side. Looking through the binoculars they could soon make out five small figures in the boat and a short time after that they found they recognized several of them.

"What will we do now?" Squall asked, putting down the binoculars for the fifth time before picking them up again to take one last look.

Deman sighed, fingers massaging his forehead as if he felt a migraine coming on. "I don't know, Squall… If they came all the way down here they must know we're here, so there's really no use hiding."

"Then we'll meet them head on," Squall said.

"Remember what happened the last two times you faced these SeeD," Deman said, "I'm not sure if you should get involved again."

"I'm not going to leave you to fight them off alone," Squall insisted, "you'll have to knock me out and tie me up to get me to stay behind."

"But what if you break down again?" Deman asked, "You won't be much use if you can't even fight."

"I won't," Squall said, "this is too important. I just won't think at all."

Deman nodded, finally relenting, "Alright, but I want you to tell me if your head starts acting up, okay?"

Squall nodded, "I will. Shall we go out to meet them?"

Deman shrugged, "Might as well get it over with."

* * *

"There, on the beach," Zell said, putting down a pair of binoculars, "it looks like they're waiting for us."

"Just the two of them?" Quistis questioned, squinting through her glasses in an attempt to see the figures more clearly.

"I guess so," Zell shrugged, "I didn't see anyone else. Maybe it's only the two of them that are here."

"They probably didn't expect us to find them," Irvine added, "now that we have there's not much else they can do."

"So what will our party be?" Quistis asked, looking at the sharpshooter.

"Who? Me?" Irvine asked, looking around him at the questioning faces of his friends.

"Like it or not you've become the leader of this little quest," Quistis said, "you were the one sent into Squall's past, you were the one who figured out what was wrong with him, you've been the one to get us this far."

"I have?" Irvine blanched, the others nodded. "Well, okay… I guess the party to meet them should be me, Zell and Selphie. No offense, Quisty, but I think we should stick with people he's seen already for now."

Quistis nodded her agreement, "That makes sense to me," she agreed.

The others voiced their own agreements with Irvine's plan and the fighters prepared themselves for the attack.


	6. VI

Summary: It's about five months since the end of the game, Squall Leonhart has been forced into the role of an international icon, and out of active duty. He finally gets the opportunity to go on another mission, but what happens when things go wrong and he's taken prisoner? Will Squall's friends find him? And what happens when it seems he doesn't want to be found? 

Disclaimer: Square owns all things Squall and co. all I conceived of were the circumstances surrounding this story and Deman and co.

A/N: Well, like promised, it's up this weekend. In editing this chapter... there were some parts I liked, other parts not so much. Here's fair warning before you read on: it's got another one of those kind of slow fight scenes in it... I just didn't have time to do anything with it. But there's a dream sequence later on that I really liked...

Thanks to the reviewers, and without further ado, here's chapter 6!

**_Ardent Deception_**

**VI.**

Squall and Deman stood motionless side by side as the boat hit the shore and three figures jumped from it. Deman shot Squall a worried glance and saw the younger man locking his jaw with determination. Squall focused on reminding himself SeeD was the enemy and concentrated on not looking at any of them for too long—especially Irvine.

"_That's it,"_ a mocking voice entered Irvine's head as his eyes fell upon the man standing beside Squall, _"take a real good look at me, Commander. Mission completed, you've found me. I am Deman, the leader of Egeslics. A pity you won't ever have a chance to report it."_

"So, you must be Deman." Irvine was surprised his voice was shaking slightly and a shudder went down his back as his subconscious warned him of this man, correlating with all sorts of bad feelings.

"I am," Deman confirmed, "and you must be Irvine. Squall's said so much about you."

Irvine glanced over at Squall, the other man was keeping his eyes glued to the ground as if he was afraid to look up at them. "He thinks you were there while he was tortured by SeeD," Deman continued, smirking slightly at the surprised looks his friend couldn't see.

"Squall, listen to me," Irvine said, turning his attention away from the strangely intimidating figure of Deman, "you know that's not true, you know we wouldn't have tortured you, don't you?" He wanted to continue, to say it was actually Deman who had him tortured but he was sure it would do more harm than good. Squall would never believe the man he considered his friend had done that to him.

"It won't work," Squall said in a bit of a strained voice, his eyes never leaving the ground, "I can't mess up now. I'll kill you all if I have to but I won't let you mess with my mind or hurt my friend."

"You see?" Deman asked, pulling Irvine's attention back to himself and fully enjoying the look of fear in the younger man's eyes even if he couldn't explain why it was there, "Squall knows who his friends are now. Your mind tricks won't work on him anymore so you might as well leave."

"We're not leaving without Squall!" Zell shouted, holding his fists in a threatening manner.

"Yeah, you're not Squall's friend, we are!" Selphie added.

"Are you prepared to fight him, then?" Deman asked, keeping his eyes locked with Irvine's and a slight smirk on his face, "Are you prepared to fight the man you call your friend? He's prepared to fight you, isn't that right, Squall?"

"I am," Squall finally looked up, his gray eyes steeled over and his jaw locked in determination. He still refused to look at the sharpshooter but he allowed his gaze to fall over the man's companions.

Irvine meanwhile was hesitating, he knew this fight would have to come eventually and until now he had been sure he could handle it. Now he was face to face with the man that had caused Squall so much pain and while anger for this man boiled under his skin it was fear that remained the predominant emotion. He couldn't get the image out of his mind of this man smirking down at him like he was now, pain coming from the whip and worse. Now he wasn't so sure he could do it.

Zell and Selphie glanced over at Irvine and were surprised to see the man shaking where he stood, unable to tear his eyes away from Deman's.

"Irvy?" Selphie asked with concern.

"Are you okay, Irvine?" Zell asked.

"That's… him," Irvine managed to grind out in barely more than a whisper, completely captivated by the other man's dark green eyes, "Everything that's happened… it's all his fault."

Zell and Selphie understood what he meant immediately and Squall finally allowed his eyes to rest on Irvine, a dark glare piercing the man but not taking in his fearful deposition. Hatred and anger swirled in his eyes at the perceived insult to his friend.

"Don't you dare say that, SeeD," he growled, "Deman's been my best friend for as long as I can remember. If he's at fault for anything it's for helping me recover from what you did to me… Or is that what you mean?"

Irvine didn't even see his attack coming and was astonished when Squall's gunblade cut through his skin, the explosion bringing him to his knees. His eyes met Squall's for a moment and despite the pain his heart went out to his confused friend. He knew Squall was only acting on what he thought to be the truth and knew his friend would never consciously hurt him. With this in mind he steeled himself over, gathering his courage to attack the man from his nightmares. His fears didn't matter anymore, he had to get Squall away from him.

Irvine attacked next, firing two shots into his haughty looking enemy. The other man might not know it but he had become Irvine's worst enemy and the sharpshooter couldn't imagine anyone he'd rather see dead. Selphie attacked him as well with a powerful Firaga spell. Growling in annoyance, Deman sliced through Irvine with his own katana—slightly longer than his brother's.

Squall in turn cast Regan on his friend and, without hesitating, attacked Irvine again. After this devastating attack Irvine found most of his energy drained and was unable to push himself back to his feet despite his best efforts. He felt his limit break coming on strong and quickly loaded his shotgun with a couple of Pulse Ammo in preparation. He stood up to empty his powerful Hyper Shot attack and at the same time felt a curative spell wash over him. Taking aim he emptied a few shells at Deman, allowing himself to feel a bit of triumph as the other man fell to his knees.

Deman was far from out of the game, however, and used his weakened status to deal out a limit break of his own. Muttering a few choice words under his breath his sword blade coated with ice and he quickly attacked with it, the ice shattering and breaking apart in Irvine's body to create a strong double attack of magic and physical damage. As Irvine recoiled from the attack, Squall's powerful Regan spell restored a good deal of Deman's life.

"Thunder Storm," Selphie announced as Quetzacotl appeared behind her to unleash it's powerful magic attack. Squall and Deman were surrounded by the thunder magic, causing their hair to stand on end until the energy became so concentrated it exploded, striking them with lightening attacks and draining their life substantially.

Squall cast a curative spell on himself as Zell attacked Deman and Irvine prepared for another go himself. They exchanged attacks in much the same manner for some time—most of the blows being concentrated on either Deman or Irvine. Deman's Regan eventually wore off and the combined attacks of Zell, Irvine and Selphie brought him to his knees.

Squall's eyes narrowed at his perceived enemies and he cast Deman a concerned look. The older man was panting for breath and clearly running out of steam. Having not been attacked much himself, Squall was still a powerful and dangerous opponent himself.

"Deman, go," Squall said in a quiet voice meant only for his friend to hear.

Deman shook his head, trying vainly to lift himself to his feet, "I'm not going to leave you alone with these people."

"It's me they're after," Squall hissed, "contact Kyle and get out of here! I can hold them off for a while still. We can't win so there's no use in both of us being captured."

"Squall…" Deman was reluctant to let the other fight against these particular SeeDs alone but could see the logic in his friend's words—plus, he really didn't want to rot away in a jail cell.

"Please, Deman," Squall insisted, "I wouldn't be able to stand it if I knew I had gotten you hurt or worse."

At length Deman nodded, "Fine. But I expect you to give 'em hell, Squall."

Squall chuckled, "I will," he assured the other man before casting a Cura on him. With the added boost of energy from the spell, Deman found the strength to push himself to his feet and, reluctantly, retreated.

Irvine, of course, was ready to run after the other man but Squall stepped in his way. "You'll have to get through me first," he said, his grip on his gunblade tightening in preparation.

"Squall, we don't want to fight you," Irvine said, "put your weapon down and stand aside."

"No," Squall responded, "I don't expect the likes of you to understand but there's a little thing I like to call loyalty between friends. I'm not going to let you take Deman; I'm the one you want."

Irvine glanced between the face of his one time Commander and friend and the retreating back of his arch enemy. He then glanced over at the hesitant faces of Zell and Selphie.

"I'll make you a deal," he said at length, "come with us quietly and we'll let him go for now." While Irvine would give anything to see the other man dead, it was really more important now to get Squall back, that is what they had come out here to do, after all. "You know you don't stand a chance against all of us by yourself. We can do this the easy way or the hard way, it's up to you."

The three SeeDs watched anxiously as Squall thought over his options in his head. They would leave his friend alone if he went with them whereas if he fought they would only defeat him and then pursue Deman while he was unconscious.

"Okay," Squall said reluctantly, "I'll do what you want, but you'd better fulfill your side of the promise—leave Deman alone."

Irvine nodded, relieved that he wouldn't have to fight his friend, "We will," he agreed although somewhat reluctantly himself, "come with us."

Squall hesitantly put his gunbalde away and followed the SeeDs to their boat where the other three people were waiting. Zell stepped up to him, "Um, you'd better give me your gunblade for now, Squall." He stammered, holding out his hand nervously.

Squall nodded, he had assumed he would be disarmed and reluctantly put his blade in the other man's hand before obediently climbing onto the boat. Everyone was silent as the small vessel made its way over the water to where the larger White ship was waiting, the tension in the boat almost tangible.

They climbed onto the deck and he was escorted to one of the cabins below deck. Frankly he was surprised when he was left alone in the fairly comfortable room. He had been expecting a jail cell, to be chained up, but he was still free, to some extent. He was unsure what to do next, he knew he couldn't escape from the ship, not while they were traveling over the sea, but he felt he should be doing something—after all, the fools had trusted him to a regular ship's cabin, although a guard probably stood outside his door. At length Squall settled down to sleeping, he wasn't sure how long he'd be in here or what would happen to him once they had reached whatever their destination was so he might as well conserve his strength until a later time.

* * *

It was a few hours later when a knock on the door woke Squall from his restless sleep. He sat up in time to see Irvine walking through the door. He quickly cast his eyes away, trying to squelch the feelings of comfort and safety that appeared in his mind when he saw the man, he was sure he shouldn't have such feelings for someone who was obviously his enemy. 

"We're approaching Balamb Garden, I thought you might like to see it." Irvine said.

"Sure," Squall agreed, still refusing to look at the other, "I suppose it'll be my last opportunity to see it from the outside."

Irvine raised an eyebrow, "Let's hope not, Squall."

Squall didn't reply and allowed Irvine to lead him back on deck. The small island of Balamb was quickly growing larger before them and Squall could see what he assumed was the Garden sitting in the middle of it. He couldn't help but be a little amazed at it's beauty even as they approached, blue trimming shining in the sunlight and so many lights lit that it was practically glowing itself.

They slowed down as they approached and the ship stopped just off the shore. "This is as far as the ship can go," Irvine explained, "we'll take a smaller boat to the shore like we did at Centra."

Squall nodded with understanding, absently wondering why the other man was even bothering to tell him. He followed Irvine as he began leading the way to the boat and obediently climbed into it as he was told to do. He figured Kyle could be at the beach in another hour so he decided to go along with what they said for a while longer, at least until he was sure Deman was safe.

Once they made it to the beach a short time later he was escorted up to Balamb Garden by five people looking distinctly on edge—at least four of whom he could remember fighting before. They walked in a mostly awkward silence, his escort shooting him glances he didn't like every once in a while and whispering amongst themselves.

Squall again had his eyes glued to the ground as he consciously tried not to think, it wouldn't help him very much if his head went crazy on him again now. He was escorted into the complex and to an elevator some distance inside. There were more glances and whispered comments from everyone they passed and it was really beginning to get on Squall's nerves. Only Irvine and Quistis accompanied Squall into the elevator, which they rode all the way up to the Headmaster's office.

Stepping out, Squall was pleased to see a mostly empty room with only one person behind a desk off to one side, instead of the rows of cells he had been expecting. The woman nodded at them and pressed a button on a console in front of her and Irvine led Squall through a pair of doors. Inside Squall's eyes came to rest on a middle aged man standing behind a desk looking very stressed. The man looked up at him and offered a small smile before returning to his weary expression.

"It's good to have you back, Squall," he started, glancing between the three figures before him. "Do you know why you're here?"

"The only thing I can think of is I know something you don't want to get out." Squall replied, "You really shouldn't have gone to all the trouble, I can't remember a thing from my time here."

Glancing up at the Headmaster's face, his expression was something between annoyance and pity—neither of which Squall liked. His mouth was in a thin line but his eyes were deep and sad as he looked at him.

"Squall, you're probably not going to believe this right now," Cid started, looking purposefully at the young man, "but we want to help you."

His prediction was right, Squall didn't believe him. But the chuckle that escaped the teenager's mouth and the patronizing grin on his face was not at all expected—not from Squall. "Yeah, right," he laughed, "you've been hounding me for the last two months because you want to _help_." His expression turned serious again, steely eyes reminding them all of the old Squall, "I don't need your pity," he spat, "If you really want to help you'll let me go and mind your own business for once!" He crossed his arms over his chest and glared at the floor signifying he was done with this conversation.

Cid sighed, "This is going to be harder than I thought," he muttered under his breath, "I wonder if you're still in there at all, Squall." Louder he addressed the SeeDs on either side of Squall, "Irvine, would you show Squall to his room and help him get settled in?"

The cowboy nodded, "Of course."

"Quistis, could you organize an announcement in the auditorium? I think it's time the student body were told what is really going on—put an end to all those silly rumors." Cid continued, turning to the young woman.

"Right away, sir," Quistis responded with a nod.

Cid turned to the last figure, "Squall, try to keep an open mind. We're really not here to hurt you."

Squall didn't say anything in reply and Cid dismissed the three figures with another sigh. (Irvine was right, getting him back was only the first step. There's still a lot of work to be done.)

After taking the elevator back down to the ground floor, Squall followed Irvine down the hallway to the right. He had to admit, he had mixed feelings about this. He was glad they were treating him civilly, but he couldn't help being suspicious of it at the same time. He was annoyed and angry that they seemed to be playing games with him and he was just downright confused. And to make matters worse his head was beginning to ache again as he fought off the feeling that his surroundings were all vaguely familiar.

"That's the infirmary to the left, and there's the Quad up there." Irvine said as they passed a branching hall. "And that's the cafeteria, over there," Irvine chuckled slightly, "Zell's crazy about the hotdogs, but for some reason I've never seen you even try one."

Squall couldn't help it, he knew he was being played and he didn't like it. He was in the middle of some cosmic joke and someone forgot to tell him the punch line, "Will you stop talking to me like that?" He growled.

"Like what?" Irvine questioned with confusion on his face.

"Like we're friends or something," Squall supplied with irritation, "I don't even know you! And besides that, you've tried to kill my friends three times now, so just lay off the act!" Squall stalked ahead of Irvine wishing he could shake the other man off.

Irvine sighed, picking up his pace to catch up with the other man, "Okay, I'm sorry. You're right, you don't know me and I guess it must be kind of awkward for you after seeing me as the enemy the last three times we met. I dunno, I guess I just want to pretend nothing ever happened, Squall. Seeing you back here and all makes everything feel like it's back to normal, but it's not, you're not… So, how do you want me to talk to you then?"

"Whatever, just forget it." Squall growled, annoyance winning out as he chose just to ignore the cowboy.

Irvine just grinned and laughed, "Now that sounds like something Squall would say!"

Squall on the other hand merely quickened his pace again, tired of this stranger acting like they knew each other.

"The dormitories are this way, Squall," Irvine called, stopping the raging teen in his tracks. Squall looked back at where the other was standing by another off-branching hallway. He reluctantly turned back, a dark look on his face saying he didn't like to be corrected. Irvine chuckled but didn't comment verbally on his attitude this time.

"Alright, so you have a choice," Irvine started as they walked past a few windows before the door lined part of the hallway started. Squall barely glanced at him, "We've decided it might be too soon to give you your own room so you'll have to share a double dorm with one of us guys," Irvine continued casually, pretending as though he couldn't see the darkening expression on Squall's face, "so, uh, who would you like to share with, Squall? There's, well, me or Zell is really it, I guess…"

Squall glared at the ground. "It's not like you have to be around us all the time," Irvine embellished, "the double dorms just have two sleeping rooms off of the same main room and share one bathroom."

"Why don't you just give me my own cell." Despite Squall's choice of words his soft spoken reply could hardly be considered a question. More of a growl, Irvine deduced thoughtfully.

"Squall, we're not going to lock you up like some kind of felon," Irvine explained calmly.

"Instead you're going to lock me up with people I hate like some kind of misbehaved child?" Squall questioned sarcastically.

Irvine sighed, "Sure, if that's what you want to call it, Squall." He was silent for a moment as he glanced up at the plaques beside the doors bearing the room numbers. "You know, it's rude to say you hate someone when you've already admitted you don't know them."

Squall's glare shifted to Irvine, he really was not in the mood to discuss manners, rude or otherwise.

"I'm just saying," Irvine continued, apparently not caring that he was under Squall's angry eyes, "you could at least give us a chance. Get to know us a little yourself before you jump to the conclusion that we're all evil or something."

"You captured me, tortured me, took away my life, hunted me down and captured me again and I'm supposed to _get to know you_?" Squall demanded, hardly able to think straight enough to form the coherent sentence, "Don't you think you're asking a bit much?"

Irvine was silent for a moment, "… Well, when you put it that way I guess it sounds pretty bad." He admitted then stopped in front of a door, "Oh, here's the room." He opened it with a key and ushered Squall inside before continuing, "But seeing as how I can't for the life of me recall doing any of those three things you mentioned first I don't think you've got all that much on us. Sure saying we hunted you down and captured you sounds a bit harsh, but you've got to think of it from our standpoint, Squall."

Squall raised an eyebrow, clearly not buying a word Irvine said. (At least he isn't cutting me off like he might have done in the past,) Irvine thought with mild amusement.

"Almost three months ago one of my best friends was sent on a dangerous mission—he didn't even bother to say goodbye to me or the others," Irvine continued, "About two months ago he went missing and after trying unsuccessfully to find him for a week or so we called in another friend. This friend happened to be my friend's sister and she used her powers to… show me things that had happened to my friend while he'd been missing. He had his life stolen from him, I can't even remember all the details but I recall enough to know how horrible it was for him. I vowed then to get my friend away from those who did it to him and—"

Squall gasped in pain as his head pounded and he sank to his knees. Blurry images flashed in his mind again—someone who he could barely make out to be Irvine rising from his seat on the grass, gun slung carelessly over his shoulder; Irvine again, whispering something into his ear in a place he couldn't make out; cold stone beneath him as a whip lashed into his back… Squall's eyes snapped open quickly, his mind reeling with shock as if the strike had thrown him back to reality.

"Squall? Are you okay?" It took almost a full minute for Squall, panting to regain his breath, to realize there was a hand on his shoulder, steadying him as he tried to intake his much needed air. He looked up at the cowboy, clearly recalling the first time he had met him, almost two months ago in the caves under Deling City… (That was where we met, wasn't it? Then why…?)

Squall quickly shook off the hand, using the wall for support as he stood on shaking feet, "I'm fine," he breathed, "I just… I just need to rest."

Irvine nodded and tried to help the shorter man again only to be shook off once more. He shrugged and watched Squall carefully with concerned eyes in case he would need his help again.

"Yours will be the one on the right," Irvine supplied as the other man made his way along the wall. Squall afforded him with a slight nod and stumbled to that door, opening it and then closing it quickly behind him to cut himself off from the other man's sight.

Squall sighed, glad to be alone again. He grasped at his still pounding head with his left hand—specifically gripping at his temple area where the pain always seemed to originate at. He stumbled the few extra steps to the bed on the side of the wall and allowed himself to collapse onto it with a slight groan in appreciation of his troublesome head.

Irvine stared at the closed door sadly for a long moment. He hadn't heard any loud thumps that would indicate Squall had fallen so he assumed his friend had made it to the bed. He grabbed the bill of his cowboy hat between his thumb and forefinger, sliding it off his head so he had enough room to scratch his head in bemusement before replacing the hat and leaving the room with a shrug.

He hesitated outside the door and reluctantly locked it. Squall obviously didn't trust them and the fact he'd gotten out once before without anyone seeing him meant it was possible for him to do it again… of course at the moment he didn't remember the layout of Garden so it was unlikely, but better to be safe than sorry. He sighed, he still didn't like the idea of locking one of his best friends up, but it was for his own safety.

Irvine walked absent-mindedly through the corridors of Garden, not even noticing the students or SeeDs he knew waving at him or greeting him by his name. His thoughts were focused on one person: Squall. He had to find a way to break through to him, there had to be a way. He was at the Headmaster's office again before he knew it.

Cid smiled thinly at him when he entered, "How is he?" The older man asked, taking in his SeeD's resigned appearance.

"He's resting," Irvine replied, "I guess I came on a bit too strongly down there… He seems to be able to fight off whatever is happening to him a lot easier than before, though… I'm not really sure if that's a good sign or not."

Cid nodded in understanding, "Quistis is trying to find a subtle way to break it to the students… She doesn't think it would do to tell them bluntly their hero has lost his memory and now sees SeeD as the enemy."

Irvine nodded slightly but remained silent. Brooding wasn't something he did often, there were some who would be surprised to know he did it at all, but he did have a lot to brood about at the moment. At length he addressed the Headmaster again, "I'd like to share Squall's dorm, sir."

Cid nodded, "I thought you might, and I agree with you. You're the only one besides Squall who has any idea what happened to him, maybe you'll be able to get through to him. I don't think I have to remind you to take it easy on him…"

* * *

"_Squall," Squall spun around to see Deman smiling at him._

"_Deman, where are we?" He asked, glancing around at his surroundings which seemed to be… nothing._

"_What do you mean, Squall? You don't recognize this place?" The older boy questioned, looking around with a slight frown._

_Squall frowned as well, "There's nothing to recognize." He growled._

"_Oh, yeah," Deman chuckled, "there isn't, is there? But the darkness, it's nice isn't it?"_

_Squall's frown deepened and then he saw a speck of light behind his friend, "What's that?"_

_Deman turned to look and his expression darkened, "That's nothing. Stay here, Squall."_

_Squall shot the other man a quick glare before striding forward towards the light. As he got closer he noted it seemed to be radiating a blue light. Squall glanced back over his shoulder, Deman hadn't moved. He turned back to the light to see a figure growing larger between him and a complex that seemed to be made of ice._

"_Irvine?" Squall asked, looking at the silhouette of the cowboy._

_The man grinned at him, "Hey, Squall. Ready to come home?"_

"_Home?" Squall repeated with a frown, "You mean here?"_

_Irvine shrugged, "This is where you live, right?" Irvine turned to frown at the ice, "Garden should be around here somewhere… What's up with you today? You're acting kind of strange."_

_Squall's next step forward landed him on the solid ice ground. Looking back he saw the darkness seemed to cut off in a sudden line, he looked back at Irvine who was beckoning him closer._

"_Come on, everyone's waiting for you."_

"_Everyone?" Squall repeated, glancing back at the tiny far away figure of Deman._

"_Yeah: Rinoa, Zell, Selphie and Quistis," Irvine confirmed, "We're all waiting for you to come back, Squall."_

"_Come back? Back from where?" Squall asked, wondering what Irvine was going on about now._

_Irvine nodded over his shoulder at the darkness that seemed to be pressing in around the ice Garden._

"_What is that?" Squall asked, looking at the dark substance with shock as if he'd never seen it before._

"_Nothing." Irvine answered with another shrug._

_Squall frowned quizzically, "Nothing?" He repeated, "…What is it doing here?"_

_Irvine stopped and gave Squall a look as if he had just asked an incredibly dumb question. At length he answered, "Watch."_

_Squall looked back at the darkness and watched it for a long moment with nothing happening. He was about to turn back to Irvine and ask him to clarify what he was looking for but suddenly the ground began to shake and the darkness pressed in on him. Where before it had stood several feet in front of him it now stopped just beyond his toes, he looked back at Irvine in surprise._

"_It's… destroying me!" He exclaimed in surprise._

_The sharpshooter nodded, "I guess you could say that. Technically, though, it's only destroying your mind. You're body's just fine in either world."_

_Squall looked at his friend in shock, "Are you suggesting it doesn't matter if it comes in here? Irvine, this is all I have left, if you were any kind of friend you'd help me!"_

_Irvine smiled and chuckled, "Of course I'll help you, actually I'm surprised you're still in here at all. We thought you were completely gone, it's good to know we still have a fighting chance."_

"_So, what do we do?" Squall asked._

_Irvine shrugged, "I dunno. How did you hold it off this long?"_

"_I didn't realize I was holding anything off. I didn't even know it was here until you pointed it out!" Squall exclaimed, "Don't tell me you don't know how to stop it."_

"_Hey, it's your mind," the cowboy pointed out._

"_Then what are you doing here?"

* * *

_

Squall sat up in his bed and groaned. He had hoped a good night's sleep would ease the pain in his scull, but apparently it hadn't worked. He glanced at the clock, (then again, I didn't exactly get a good night's sleep) he mused as he noticed the time was only three in the morning.

"I had the strangest dream," he mumbled under his breath to no one. No one responded and he closed his eyes again with a shrug, hoping to get back to sleep.

He lay quietly in his bed for a good ten minutes before he decided he wasn't going to be able to get back to sleep and finally gave up, heaving himself from the mattress. Squall looked around the room, something he hadn't really done the night before due to obvious circumstances. There was the bed, of course, which was opposite a small desk. To the left was the door he had come in and to the right was a window, a small dresser for clothes or other items sitting beneath it. It was a small, plain, standardized looking room and he immediately decided he didn't like it.

Squall crossed the few feet to the door and pulled it open, slightly surprised when it worked. This room was much larger, a door across from him led to the hall, a door next to his presumably led to another bedroom, and a door to his left that was left slightly ajar was to the bathroom. On the right was a small kitchen with a counter, a few cabinets, an oven and a couple of stools. That was about it for this room, not much to do here either. Squall crossed the room to the door leading to the hall.

(Locked) his attempt at turning the handle was proved in vain (figures.) Having nothing better to do, Squall turned his attention to the small kitchen and began searching for something he could make for breakfast. He liked to fancy himself a good cook and had told others on many occasions… then they had tasted his food and never eaten with him again. He chuckled as he recalled the look on Deman and Eadig's faces the first time they had tried some stew he made. He could tell they thought it was awful but despite that they had tried to eat all that was in their bowls.

Personally, he didn't see what was wrong with his food. It was nutritionally balanced, he finally found some eggs in one of the cabinets—which apparently was actually a mini fridge in disguise. He found a bowl in another and brought out a few supplies, deciding to make himself an omelet. After further consideration he decided that while he was at it he might as well make one for whoever had ended up sharing his room.

(Is that…?) Irvine's eyes cracked open slightly as he tiredly looked around the small cadet room he was sleeping in. He sniffed the air experimentally (It is… eggs!) Irvine reluctantly sat up in his bed. He glanced around his small cadet's quarter's expectantly, but of course, the eggs were nowhere to be seen. His glance fell on the clock—it wasn't even four. A frown crossed the sharpshooter's face, who would be up at… then again, there weren't many people it could be.

He tiredly pulled himself the rest of the way out of bed and stumbled across his room to the door. With a flick of the wrist he had it opened and was greeted to the expected yet nonetheless surprising picture of Squall in the kitchen. With an apron on. And a yellow substance—presumably eggs—smoking in a frying pan. Irvine frowned slightly, Rinoa had never mentioned Squall could cook. Blue-gray eyes glanced up at the cowboy's intrusion and then back down at his work.

"Good morning to you, too," Irvine chuckled, suppressing a yawn, "What're you doing up this early, anyway?"

Squall cast him an annoyed glance and answered curtly, "Making breakfast."

"At four in the morning?" Irvine demanded, the sarcasm in Squall's voice ignored.

If anything, Squall looked even more irritated, "Yes, at four in the morning." He agreed sharply.

Irvine was silent for a moment and then pressed, "Why?" His tone suggested such a thing was unheard of, sacrilegious even.

Squall slammed the spatula down on the counter with more force than necessary, "I couldn't sleep." He answered, glaring at the other man before quickly returning to his eggs.

"Okay, sorry I asked…" Irvine muttered under his breath, taking a seat on one of the stools at the counter. He watched the brunette work for several moments longer until Squall finally reached up and turned off the burner, sliding the food from the pan.

"Don't suppose you made any for me," Irvine commented, his stomach growling loudly in protest at the very idea of withheld food. He was surprised when Squall dropped a plate in front of him, already loaded up with breakfast. "Er, thanks."

Squall just shrugged and placed himself on the stool that was furthest away from Irvine—which really wasn't that far since there were only three stools. Squall began to slowly eat his omelet and kept an eye on Irvine as the other man started as well, putting a heaping fork to his mouth.

Irvine immediately froze as the substance touched his tongue. His face drained slightly and he fought for control of his expression as disgust tried to appear. He swallowed very quickly and offered Squall a weak smile. (So this is why Rinoa has never mentioned his cooking.)

"It's, uh… I've never had anything quite like it!" Irvine said, smiling as widely as he could manage at his friend. To his unequaled surprise, the other man laughed, almost choking on a mouthful of eggs and sausage.

After a second or two of coughing, Squall was laughing again, momentarily forgetting who he was sitting with, "A lot's been said about my food," he managed to get out, "but no one's tried to compliment it quite like that, before." Squall seemed to have calmed down a bit by now but was still grinning down at his food with the threat of laughter just under the surface and by now Irvine was chuckling himself.

"I won't be insulted if you don't finish it," Squall added, still snickering slightly at Irvine's comment, "no one can ever stand the stuff." Here he poked at his own food and stuck another piece into his mouth, "Except me, of course. I don't see what you guys all hate about it."

Irvine was still grinning and looking at Squall in outright amazement at the same time. He really hadn't thought that kind of good-natured laughter was possible from Squall. He was afraid any sudden movement or words from him would ruin the moment and Squall would remember himself.

Squall chuckled again, "The first time Deman tried my cooking he was convinced I had tried to poison him. It took almost a week for him to stop giving me suspicious looks…"

"Hey, uh," Squall started, looking seriously down at his food again with a slight frown on his face, "I was thinking… about what you said yesterday. I guess, it kind of makes sense." Irvine glanced at him with surprise again, and curiosity. Did this mean he was being given a second chance?

"I mean, you were right… I really don't know you… but, well, you don't really know me either. You claim to know a Squall—and I'm sure you do—but, even if you did know me at one point… well, I'm not really him anymore." Squall sighed, rubbing the back of his head slightly, "So, I will give you a chance, get to know you some myself before I judge you… but only if you'll give me the same. You said I was your friend, but I'm not. I don't even know you and you don't know me. Deman is my friend, and Eadig, too, because they know me and I them… They said… that it was you who… did things to me, but I know that can't be true."

Irvine's surprise turned quickly to hope, this was a good sign…

"At least, not you personally. I probably shouldn't be telling you this—" Squall broke off suddenly, unsure of how to continue.

"Go on," Irvine insisted. The Squall he knew had never been much of a talker, especially when it came to the subject of feelings, so he was quite genuinely intrigued.

"Well, when I see you… When I hear you, I have this feeling… like I'm safe. A feeling of comfort, somehow." Squall finally looked up, taking in the brown eyes that were glued to his own at the glance, "I don't know why it's there, but something tells me you can't be all that bad."

Irvine grinned again, "That's great, Squall!" He exclaimed, almost startling the smaller man, "Do you have any idea what this means?" Squall meekly shook his head, backing up against the wall slightly at the other's excited state. Irvine was quick to continue, "It must be some feeling left in you from your past! That means your memories are still with you, somewhere. They're just… locked up, or something. And if they're locked up, that means they can be _unlocked_!"

Squall just looked at the other man blankly, "Well, your memories can't really be taken out of your mind, right? Maybe someday I'll remember… Hey, can we get out of here?" The brunette asked suddenly.

"Oh, yeah, sure," Irvine crossed over to the door to key in the code to unlock it.

"What's with everyone and locking me up?" Squall questioned, "You'd think I was some sort of psychopath or something."

Irvine chuckled as the door whooshed open, "No, you're not crazy… Just in the wrong place at the wrong time." He allowed the other man to precede him out of the room. They walked down the dormitory hall together in silence.

"Do you want me to finish that tour from yesterday?" Irvine asked as they came upon the main hall, "The different areas won't really start opening up for another half an hour, anyway."

Squall shrugged, "Sure."

* * *

Squall locked his jaw, the headache, of course, was intensifying again—it was all he could do to keep it at bay. He should've expected it, though, being where he was. Balamb Garden—it seemed like every room held unrealized emotions in him, every face he saw. Some affected him more than others, most he could ignore altogether… but occasionally, a face, a sound, a place would ignite a strong feeling inside of him and he'd have a hard time pushing it down again. 

It wasn't like he was afraid of his feelings, actually quite the opposite, they intrigued him. But he had learned the hard way that these kind of feelings, the ones brought up by seemingly nothing, were very dangerous. If he tried to examine them further, discover their source, pain would erupt in his head and destroy his mind. He was in the enemy's base, he could not afford a handicap like that.

"Squall!" The brunette suddenly started from his thoughts to realize he was holding two filled trays of food. "Come on!" Squall quickly glanced around the large room he was in until his eyes found Irvine waiting at a table for him.

Squall quickly walked over and set the two trays down, glancing around nervously at the other people, a few of whom he recognized but tried terribly hard not to think of where from. "Hello." He greeted softly, giving Irvine a hesitant look before uncertainly sitting next to him.

"Good morning, Squall," Quistis returned.

"Hey, man, feeling better?" Zell asked.

Selphie grinned, "Hello!"

Rinoa kept silent, barely daring to hope that Squall was really back, that he wouldn't suddenly attack them or something.

"Squall's decided to give us a chance to get to know him—as he is now," Irvine explained to the others, "So I thought it would be a good idea for us all to introduce ourselves since, well, you know…" Irvine paused and glanced at his friends around the table as everyone looked back a bit uncertainly.

"Okay, so I'll go first," Irvine finally declared before turning to Squall, "Well, as you already know, I'm Irvine. Irvine Kinnaes. Let's see… I grew up in Edea's Orphanage until I was adopted when I was five. I started at Galbadia Garden when I was eleven and transferred to Balamb after the Sorceress War a couple of months ago." He hesitated before adding, "Technically, I'm not even a SeeD yet, my tests are coming up in a month."

There was another brief silence until Selphie decided to go next, "Me next!" She declared, "I'm Selphie Tilmitt and I grew up in the Orphanage, too. When Edea had to close the Orphanage I was transferred to Trabia Garden and then I transferred to Balamb before my field test. After the Sorceress War Irvy and I went back to Trabia to organize the rebuilding of Garden and we only came back here two months ago." The implications in her last statement were not lost on Squall but the brunette remained silent on the matter.

"I'm Zell Dincht," Zell started quickly and loudly, sticking a hand out which Squall reluctantly shook. Zell grinned at this and continued, "I was at the orphanage when I was little, too. Ma and Pa adopted me when I was four. When I was ten I joined up at Garden—Pa thought it would be a good channel for my excess energy."

Quistis took the pause in his speech as an opening for her to start, "I am Quistis Trepe," she said, "I was adopted by the Trepe family when I was five but soon transferred to Balamb Garden at eight… I guess I just couldn't get my 'little brothers' out of my mind. I became a SeeD at fifteen and then an instructor at seventeen, after having my license for only a year I was demoted back to SeeD. Recently I've been at the newly refurbished Galbadia Garden working on getting my license renewed."

Squall frowned slightly, "You guys all mentioned an orphanage, was it the same one?"

Quistis nodded, "Yes, we all grew up together when we were very young. Although until recently none of us but Irvine remembered."

"You forgot your childhood?" Squall pressed, his frown deepening slightly and his brow furrowing.

"Yep," Zell confirmed, "It's supposed to be because of the GFs we use, they, uh, take up the room in our minds where memories are stored, or something like that."

"Do you… do you suppose a GF might have made me forget my past?" Squall asked hesitantly. He was still set in his belief SeeD had somehow erased his memory, but Deman hadn't told him how, exactly, they had managed such a feat.

"Honestly, Squall, I highly doubt it," Irvine replied casually, "GFs slowly erase your older memories over time depending on how much you use them. They don't erase memories completely or at a whim."

Another long pause and then Irvine prompted, "Rinoa, would you like to go now?"

The young woman sighed before looking over at Squall sadly, "I'm… I'm Rinoa Heartilly," she managed in a faltering voice. She found it hard to believe Squall would have forgotten all about her, especially after they were so close, after all they'd been through together.

"My, uh, my father, General Caraway, raised me after my mother died when I was five, but I kept her name. When I was sixteen I ran away to Timber and, along with some friends, started the Forest Owls resistance group…" She looked up at Irvine uncertainly, the others had managed to introduce themselves without mentioning Squall, but she found that rather hard to do seeing as how he was such a pivotal player in her life and wasn't sure if she should continue.

Irvine got the point, "Maybe you should hear the rest of Rinoa's story later, Squall. I don't know if you're ready for all that yet."

There was silence around the table again until Squall spoke up, "As much as I'd rather not be here right now, I'm sure it's been a pleasure meeting you. But as you've all introduced yourselves it's only fair that I do the same. My name is Squall Leonhart, as you all seem to know, and while I can't remember anything before the last two months I can tell you as much as I've been told.

"My father was a commander in the Galbadian army and my mother died giving birth. I led a prosperous life in Deling City and joined the army as soon as I was of age." His features darkened slightly, "At the end of the War my father was executed and my friends and I started a resistance group to which I have served in loyally since. I was captured and tortured by… _someone_ and since then my life has become increasingly confusing."

Rinoa was on the verge of crying again and the rest of the group sat in an uncomfortable silence.


	7. VII

Summary: It's about five months since the end of the game, Squall Leonhart has been forced into the role of an international icon, and out of active duty. He finally gets the opportunity to go on another mission, but what happens when things go wrong and he's taken prisoner? Will Squall's friends find him? And what happens when it seems he doesn't want to be found?

Disclaimer: Square owns all things Squall and co. all I conceived of were the circumstances surrounding this story and Deman and co.

A/N: Well, it's been about a month... sorry for the delay, things are really busy right now. (But isn't that what everyone says?) Yeah, I've been having lots of fun with senior projects and working on lab reports every week. Luckily the term's almost over--one semester closer to having a Bachelor's. Anyway, thanks for the reviews, hope you like this chapter. If you ask me a question in a review, I'll answer it (or, at the least, tell you it'll be answered in the upcoming 2 chapters).

And below: Chapter 7/9... The end is almost here. (I might have these all up by Christmas, after all!)

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**_Ardent Deception_**

**VII.**

Squall sighed, lying on his bed with his arms folded under his head. For the past few days the SeeDs and students at this Garden had been nothing but nice to him. They seemed to want to go out of their way to prove they liked him. What was worse: it was beginning to work.

All his life—or at least as much of it as he remembered—he had hated SeeD. He hated what they had done to him—correction, what he was _told_ they'd done to him, he hated what they stood for. But now he wasn't so sure of himself. Everyday he became less sure. He had to get out of here or he'd lose his ideals for good.

But he couldn't get out; it was one in the morning and he was wide awake but there was no way for him to leave his room—he knew, he'd already tried several times. During the day he was watched continuously and at night he was locked up. He'd never liked containment as anyone who knew him was aware. In fact he'd go so far as to say he hated it.

Another irritated sigh escaped his lips. "That's it, I'm going for a walk." He decided and got off his bed resolutely. He quickly pulled on a pair of pants that had been carelessly thrown aside earlier and pulled a long sleeved blue shirt on. He swiftly walked from his room and stepped in front of the branching door to Irvine's bedroom.

Without any concern for its sleeping occupant, Squall knocked loudly on the door. He smirked slightly when a groan and what sounded like a muffled curse made it's way through the door. He knocked again and heard a loud thump followed by a not so muffled curse. He knocked a third time for good measure and soon a tired, cross Irvine appeared on the other side of the door frame, glaring at him.

"Do you have any idea what _time_ it is?" The irate sniper growled.

"Ten past one," Squall supplied smartly.

If anything Irvine's glare intensified, much to Squall's amusement. Irvine was the only one in the entire Garden he could manage to get angry at him, everyone else would mutter nonsense about him not being himself. Squall enjoyed it, he didn't like the fact that everyone stepped on eggshells around him, he enjoyed Irvine's presence because he still acted like a normal human being. He acted like Squall was a normal human being.

"And why did you feel the need to wake me up at _one-ten_ in the _morning_?" Irvine demanded.

"I want to go for a walk." Squall answered curtly.

Irvine rolled his eyes heavenward and muttered a less than favorable expression under his breath. At length he looked back at Squall muttering, "I was having a really good dream, too." Louder he responded, "Fine, you want to go on a walk, go ahead." With that he disappeared back into his room.

Squall waited outside the door for several long moments before knocking again. An angrier sounding curse emitted itself from the room this time.

"What do you want?" Irvine's voice shouted through the door in desperation.

"I need you to let me out!" Squall yelled back.

"Just… Pace around the kitchen, won't you?" Irvine moaned, the end of his sentence muffled slightly as the cowboy stuck his head under his pillow.

Squall waited a few more moments before pounding on the door again, "The kitchen's too small!" He shouted as if he had just been giving it a try.

He heard the satisfying thumps of a very tired person stumbling to the door and it opened to again reveal the irate sharpshooter.

"If I take you on your stupid walk will you let me get some sleep?" He asked with a resigning tone.

Squall nodded, "You don't have to come if you don't want to."

Irvine shot him a suspicious look, "Then you'll never disturb my sleep again, huh?" Squall gave him his best innocent look which seemed to work on everyone but Irvine. The cowboy shook his head, "I don't think so, Squall, not if you're just going to run off again. It took too long to find you the first time." He turned from the door, "Give me half a minute to get ready and we'll leave."

Squall mentally counted the seconds away and after exactly thirty seconds he pounded on the door again, "It's been half a minute, are you ready yet?" He smirked to himself, almost eagerly awaiting the angry face that was sure to appear at this comment.

He wasn't disappointed as Irvine reemerged wearing his usual tan pants with a simple white shirt Squall assumed he'd slipped on in the dark accidentally. "It's a figure of speech, moron," the cowboy said with irritation, grabbing his jacket from a hook by his room door.

"Whatever," Squall replied dismissively, leading the way across to the hallway door, Irvine followed grudgingly and unlocked it, letting them both out.

Irvine yawned and followed his friend from the room, all the while fervently wishing he were back in his bed and his dreams hadn't been interrupted.

"It's nice here at night," Squall said at length, glancing absentmindedly at the star littered sky, "It's quiet."

"Oh look," he started, pointing out a streak of light to his companion, "a shooting—" his observation was cut short as his head suddenly exploded with pain like it had been threatening to do for the lesser part of a week.

"Squall, are you okay?" The star was forgotten as Squall collapsed to his knees in pain, holding his head, his mind's eye following a different star only to run into a pair of dark brown eyes over and over again.

"Do I… look… okay…?" Squall ground out, trying to erase the image from his mind while at the same time wanting to embrace it as something he knew he had lost. It was rapidly becoming worse as every time his mental eye met with the chocolate orbs he saw a little more of the pale face surrounding them. Everything around him faded out and he intently focused on the figure with the star, longing to see who it was despite the pain it brought him to do so. He was vaguely aware of Irvine yelling in the back of his mind and the faint sensation of blood trickling down the side of his face but that wasn't why his eyes widened in horror.

(It's _her_!) Squall was genuinely surprised as he caught a large enough glimpse of the woman's face to recognize it. (But… it couldn't… she's not… Rinoa?)

Irvine looked down at Squall in horror as his friend's body fell the rest of the way to the floor, his pain-filled screams ceasing altogether. Quite a crowd had gathered around the two of them, students and SeeDs alike gathering to see what was the cause of the commotion that disrupted their night's sleep.

"Squall?" Irvine asked cautiously, almost as afraid the man in question would answer as he was that he wouldn't. There was no answer, though, and Irvine tentatively rolled him onto his back.

Blood covered the left side of his face and covered his hand and much of his hair as well. His skin was pale and his eyes were closed, he was afraid to check for a pulse.

"What happened?" A woman's voice asked, speaking the question on everyone's mind.

"I don't know," Irvine said, his voice confused and he didn't even begin to register who he was talking to, "he just… saw a shooting star and, well, collapsed…"

"Not before screaming bloody murder and waking everyone within a ten mile radius up," Zell muttered from nearby, his usual hyperactive-ness turned into a very, very bad mood having been woken up so early in the morning.

If Irvine had been able to pry his eyes away from the object of his concern, he would have given the blonde a glare to rival Squall's, but as it was he was far too worried about Squall to even glance up at their moody friend.

"We need to get him to my office," the same voice from before said, "Zell, get over here and help Mr. Kinneas carry him."

Zell grudgingly agreed and as Irvine struggled to lift the dead weight he finally realized who was speaking. They made their way to the infirmary where, it seemed, even Dr. Kadowaki had heard Squall's torment. The Disciplinary Committee kept the curious students at bay while allowing a select few to pass into the medical center.

Rinoa, Quistis, Xu, Irvine, Zell and Cid all stood around as close as the good doctor would allow them to get as she began examining Squall. Within a matter of minutes the unconscious man had been connected up to countless machines, providing him with oxygen, monitoring his heart and brain activity and doing Hyne knows what else.

"Can't we just use Cure? Or Esuna? Or _something_?" Rinoa asked, peering at the man she knew so well but didn't know at all with concern. She hadn't been able to bring herself to get very close to this new Squall, worried that something she would say or do would set him off and hurt him or worse. It seems those worries had been unjustified as the worst case scenario seemed to be happening anyway.

"It wouldn't work," the doctor replied, "physically he's fine, well aside from that small cut on his head," she indicated to the cut on Squall's temple she had already cleaned up. "Whatever is wrong with him is in his head and there's no magical remedy to cure the mind. I'm afraid Squall's going to have to come out of this one by himself."

"Isn't there anything we can do?" Quistis pressed.

The woman sighed, "There's not much," she replied, "the most you can do is sit by him and keep him company, beyond that there's really nothing."

"What about Ellone?" Xu asked, "Can't she send someone into his mind to help him?"

Dr. Kadowaki shook her head, "Unless I'm mistaken, Ellone is able to send people into the past to observe. It's all up to Squall now, he'll need to fight his way to consciousness himself."

* * *

Squall had been out for several days. The heart monitor bleeped at a slow, calm pace most of the time, but on occasion it would show erratic behavior—speeding up to a most unhealthy rate or even stopping all together for disturbingly long moments—giving Dr. Kadowaki and the rest of the infirmary staff a real scare. Thus it had been decided that one of Squall's friends would remain with him at all times. 

Rinoa had been given the morning shift, sitting up with Squall from 08.00 to 13.00; Selphie followed her from 13.00 to 18.00; Quistis would relieve Selphie and stay with Squall from 18.00 to 22.00; the guys would split the night shift, Zell staying up late from 22.00 to 03.00 and Irvine rising early to watch from 03.00 to 08.00. Despite spending five hours a day with an unconscious man making them all tired, irritable and even more depressed than they previously had been they refused to give up their watch to other members of SeeD or the medical staff for one simple reason: the look on Squall's face.

Normally when someone is asleep or unconscious their face and body is relaxed and they look far more at peace than during the day. Squall, however, lay tense in his bed, his face was stressed with a frown and wrinkled brow as if he were struggling against something and he occasionally went as far as to thrash around in his dreams. Dr. Kadowaki kept predicting he'd wake up soon and yet Squall slept on in what the others could only imagine was an endless nightmare and they weren't willing to leave Squall with anyone else while he went through this.

Irvine yawned and glanced at his watch; fifteen more minutes. It had been pretty quiet so far, Zell said that he'd had an attack earlier that morning around midnight but since then they had seen nothing too out of the ordinary. He glanced back down at Squall's sleeping face and a small smile crossed his own.

The usual troubled façade had vanished sometime earlier in his watch to be replaced for the first time—as far as he knew—with the peaceful face of a sleeper. His heart beat had quickened slightly as well and his brain activity decreased a little to a normal sleeping pattern. Dr. Kadowaki had been in earlier and was positively delighted by this turn in events. Of course, he was, too.

The minutes crawled by and Irvine passed the time glancing through the pages of the most recent issue of Weapon's Monthly. At last the door opened to grant entrance to the worried young brunette who would be replacing him.

"How is he?" Rinoa's voice was barely more than a whisper and she almost feared to look at Squall's body on the bed, not wanting to look at his tortured face again.

Irvine gave her a grin, putting his magazine down on the small bedside table, "Sleeping like a baby," he replied lightly, "see for yourself," he added seeing the skeptical look on her face.

Rinoa did look, albeit a little hesitantly and was surprised to see Irvine's comment proved true, "He looks so peaceful," she commented, smiling slightly herself.

"Yep," Irvine agreed, "and has been for about… three and a half hours!"

"That's great!" Rinoa said, hope welling up inside of her, "Do you think he'll wake up today?"

"Probably," Irvine said, "Dr. Kadowaki seems to think so. He's gotta be tired of sleeping by now, anyway."

Rinoa nodded, "I hope he does. I don't even care if we get the old Squall back or not anymore. I mean, I hope we do, but this new Squall is better than none at all…"

Irvine agreed, "Yeah. Besides, I think he knows, deep inside, that we aren't really his enemies. He's a good guy, one way or another."

Rinoa looked down growing serious again, "Irvine, do you think it was wrong of me? To put so much distance between us, I mean. It's just, when I look at him I see the man I love, it hurts to know he doesn't love me back anymore."

"You gotta give him a chance, Rin," Irvine said, "how do you know he doesn't love you if you won't give him a chance to find out?"

"Because… what if he doesn't? What if I give him a chance and he breaks my heart?"

"Then at least you'll know." Irvine said.

Rinoa nodded weakly in response and took the chair Irvine had recently vacated. Neither of them moved or said anything for a few more long minutes until at length Rinoa sighed.

"You're right, Irvine, I should give him a chance. Thanks."

Irvine shrugged, "Well, I'll go get breakfast now—unless you need me here…"

"No, go." Rinoa replied, waving him out of the room with a hand.

Irvine grinned and left to fulfill the whims of his growling stomach, "See ya."

* * *

Rinoa stared out the window in the infirmary. The morning was looking beautiful, clear blue skies, the sun shining brightly, students running here and there, late to class or just trying to catch up with their friends. A groan from the bed in front of her suddenly snapped her attention away from the window and she leaned over the figure, watching him intently. 

He groaned again and shifted in his sleep, Rinoa held her breath in anticipation. Slowly his eyelids cracked open, focusing on her face with confusion, Rinoa smiled back at him.

"Welcome back, Squall." She said softly.

He frowned slightly, his brow creasing with concern, "Do I know you?"

Rinoa looked away sadly, fighting back the tears that were threatening to spill from her eyes, "Y-yes… I'm Rinoa, remember?"

Squall rubbed his forehead and then sighed, "Sorry, I don't."

Rinoa tried to give him what she hoped was an encouraging smile, "That's okay, I'm sure you'll remember someday…" She said softly.

There was a long silence before Squall spoke again, "You said… my name's Squall, right?"

Rinoa frowned slightly and nodded, "That's right, Squall Leonhart."

Squall pressed his lips together and nodded, looking anywhere but at Rinoa.

"Squall, are you okay?" Rinoa asked with concern.

He finally looked over at her and she was surprised to see tears in the corners of his eyes—they were quickly blinked away. "Rinoa, I don't… remember anything."

"Nothing…?" Rinoa asked with slight amazement in her voice.

Squall shook his head sadly, "Nothing," he confirmed, "It's like… my mind's completely… empty."

Just then the door opened and Dr. Kadowaki stepped in, she brightened immediately when she saw Squall propped up on his pillows a little, "Good morning, Squall!" She greeted happily, "How are you feeling?"

Squall just looked down at his sheets uncertainly.

"He said he doesn't remember anything," Rinoa supplied quietly.

Dr. Kadowaki frowned as thoughts quickly ran through her head then she smiled again, "Oh, don't worry dear, you're probably just suffering from a concussion. That happens sometimes when your brain is deprived of the oxygen it needs. I'm sure it will come back to you soon."

Squall looked up with a small smile, "Thank you, doctor."

The woman smiled brilliantly back, "Dr. Kadowaki," she supplied, "Don't thank me just yet, you're not out of the woods yet. You've been unconscious for the last four days so you'll have to take it easy for a while. I'll leave you two alone and have Quistis tell the others."

"Thank you." Rinoa said, watching as the doctor soon retreated from the room.

There was an awkward silence between the man and woman for a while. They'd occasionally glance shyly up at each other and then quickly avert their glance when they saw the other was looking back.

"What happened?" Squall finally asked.

"What do you mean?" Rinoa returned.

"The doctor said I'd been unconscious for four days," Squall clarified, "how did I get hurt? What happened?"

"I'm not really sure," Rinoa admitted, "Irvine was with you at the time, he'd probably have a better answer than me. I guess you just collapsed…"

"Irvine?"

A small smile appeared on Rinoa's lips as she looked up at Squall. She had to admit as cruel as it may sound she was glad he didn't remember anyone else either, it would have been awful if he'd remembered Irvine and not her. "He was your room mate," she explained, "I guess you two were taking a late night walk."

He nodded thoughtfully, "And I just collapsed? I wonder why…"

They sat in silence until the door flew open. Speak of the devil, there was Irvine—apparently the first to have been found.

"Squall!" He exclaimed, grinning widely at his newly awakened friend. After his initial outburst he recovered his composure and continued more calmly, "How are you?"

The brunette shrugged, "Just a little headache, I guess… Are you Irvine?"

Irvine opened his mouth to answer that of course he was Irvine, who else would he be, but stopped quickly and did a double take, seeing that Squall was genuinely curious like he didn't know who he was. "You don't know?" He asked hesitantly.

"He doesn't remember anything," Rinoa supplied, "Dr. Kadowaki said he probably suffered a concussion from loss of oxygen to the brain. She thinks he'll recover it in time."

Irvine nodded slowly although he couldn't help but be disappointed, "Oh. Yeah, I'm Irvine Kinnaes."

"Rinoa said you were with me when I collapsed," Squall said, quickly cutting to the chase, "what exactly happened?"

Irvine shrugged, "I'm not entirely sure, Squall. One minute you were walking right beside me saying something about a shooting star, I think, and the next thing I know you're shaking with pain. Something must've happened in that brain of yours, though, cause in a matter of seconds you were screaming like a girl and then you passed out cold… Anything ringing a bell?"

Squall shook his head. He felt detached, actually, light-headed. He felt like he was just observing all this not actually controlling his thought pattern. He wasn't really thinking much at all, he just… was. As much as he tried to concentrate it was like trying to catch a slippery bubble, his thoughts kept slipping from his grasp and he was left to wander through the nothingness in his mind.

"Sorry, nothing." He supplied.

* * *

Dr. Kadowaki kept Squall in the infirmary for one more night under observation and the next day he was allowed to go back to his shared dorm with Irvine. It was the second night he had been back but his sleep was anything but restful as he tossed and turned to the tune woven in his dreams. Next door Irvine slept with a smirk on his face due to a less-than-decent dream about a certain spunky brunette. 

"Irvine!" The man in mention shot up in his bed in alarm as Squall crashed into his room with the loud exclamation.

"What? What is it?" Irvine asked, looking around wildly as he attempted to free himself from his sheets which had become tangled around him when he woke so suddenly. He finally managed to release himself from their stranglehold and was somewhat calmed down after seeing nothing pressingly dangerous about their surroundings.

"Where is Eadig?" Squall demanded.

"Who?—oh." Irvine grabbed a shirt from his dresser and pulled it on, "So, you must've remembered something, huh?"

"I remember everything," Squall paused and frowned slightly with a mildly confused look on his face, "that is everything since a few months ago. I still don't remember before that and I'm beginning to think I never will." Squall looked up again, "I want to see Eadig, where is he?"

"Ah, about that," Irvine started slowly, "I, uh, don't think I'm allowed to tell you that one."

Squall's eyes narrowed dangerously, "I'm more than a match for you, cowboy, now where is he?"

Irvine sighed, "Like I said, I can't tell you. If you'll wait until the morning we can ask Cid—"

"It is the morning." Squall stated irately.

Irvine glanced at his clock, "Squall, four-thirty hardly counts as morning. Just wait a few more hours and we can sort this all out."

Squall crossed his arms and glared up at the slightly taller man in a way that would intimidate even a statue. Irvine glanced around nervously and located his shotgun—conveniently on the other side of Squall.

"Or we can go now, I guess," Irvine finally agreed as he felt an impending force of doom vibrating from the other being, "I'm sure the Headmaster won't mind being woke up in the middle of the night to answer your questions."

Irvine let out a breath he didn't realize he'd been holding as Squall vacated his room. He collected himself quickly and grabbing his trench coat—and shotgun—then followed Squall into the main room of their dorm. He didn't even hesitate before punching in the code to release them from their room and stepped swiftly into the hallway, wishing to get this over with as quickly as possible.

The two of them walked silently and quickly to the elevator in the middle of the Garden and were soon on it, riding up in an awkward silence. Irvine glanced over at his companion nervously, hoping he wouldn't make a scene when they were with the Headmaster and once again reminding himself what a bad idea this was. His eyes quickly snapped forward when gray eyes wandered over to meet his.

"Sorry about that."

Irvine almost missed the quiet statement as it was spoke softly and in a low tone. He almost thought he had been hearing things but when he looked over at Squall again the teen was looking the very definition of sorry.

"I didn't mean to come on so strongly," Squall elaborated, "you're not my enemy. It's just… with all these memories resurfacing… I don't know what to think. That's why I need to talk with Eadig."

Irvine nodded, "Forget about it. You've gone through a lot lately, you're allowed to break down every now and then." There was another long silence then Irvine added meekly, "So you want hold off a few hours?"

"No." Squall said, shooting him a glare—not as intense as before but scary enough that Irvine knew he wasn't going to back down.

Once they arrived at the third floor a few moments later, Irvine led Squall down the hall to the room that Cid had made into his new living quarters. He paused at the door giving Squall one last uncertain look. Seeing the other man was still as determined as ever, Irvine delivered a firm knock on the sturdy wooden door.

They heard a small amount of movement through the door and Irvine could imagine Cid looking at his clock wondering what the hell someone was doing waking him at this hour of the morning. He was about to knock again when the movement persisted and a short time later footsteps could be heard shuffling toward the door. Then it was opened.

"Do you have any idea what time it is?" Was the first thing out of the Headmaster's mouth, spoken even before he got a good look at who his night visitors were.

"Sorry, sir, he was adamant." Irvine explained, gesturing to Squall.

The short man looked from Irvine's face to Squall's, "Well, now that I'm up you might as well tell me what I can do for you, Squall."

"I want to see Eadig." Squall supplied curtly, taking the Headmaster by surprise with the blunt answer.

"I'm not sure that that's such a good idea, Squall," Cid said slowly, "He was sent to Galbadia Garden to prevent your interaction…"

"I need to talk with him."

Cid raised an eyebrow at the explanation, noting a hint of desperation in the undertone. He regarded the two men before him for a long moment before finally nodding.

"Alright, Squall, I'll let you have this one. But don't think you can get your way all the time just by waking me up in the middle of the night. You'll still have to wait until a reasonable hour, have breakfast in the cafeteria and then the two of you can catch a train from Balamb—"

"The two of us?" Irvine echoed. He had been expecting someone to be sent with Squall but he had been kind of hoping it wouldn't be him. He couldn't remember the last time he had gotten a decent night's sleep and had hoped to fit one in while Squall was gone.

"Well I'm not going to send him alone," Cid said, "and I know you two won't end up killing each other along the way. You're the best one to accompany him, Irvine."

"Yes, sir." Irvine complied with a sigh that did not go unnoticed by Squall.

"For now why don't you both try to get some sleep. I'll have to get in touch with the Headmaster over there—oh, what was his name?—" Cid continued mumbling to himself for a few moments as he tried to recall the name of Galbadia's new headmaster then he seemed to remember that Squall and Irivne were still there. "Oh, yes, dismissed. Get some rest, Irvine, you look horrible."

Irvine and Squall turned to wander back the way they had come as the door to the Headmaster's room was closed. Now that his fear of being killed by either Squall or Cid was over Irvine felt decidedly drained, especially with the threat of an early morning train trip with Squall looming over him. (And no pretty girls to entertain…)

* * *

Irvine blinked his eyes open some hours later and was surprised to see Squall sitting on the floor across from him, his arms folded lightly on his knees and his chin resting on his chest. Irvine smirked at his sleeping companion, apparently the brunette had been too anxious to sleep in his own room and had fallen asleep while waiting for him to wake up. He mentally debated whether to wake him or not. 

The low groan that Squall emitted as he woke took away Irvine's choice and the sharpshooter watched quietly as Squall rubbed the back of his neck in disdain. He stood and stretched, all the while unaware of the brown eyes watching him.

"That's why people normally sleep in beds," Irvine finally commented, smirking at the surprise that flashed on Squall's face for an instant.

Squall ignored the comment and glanced out the window, showing a delightfully overcast day, "What time is it?" He asked as he turned his gaze to search the room for a clock.

"Seven," Irvine replied, gesturing to the clock slightly behind Squall on the desk.

"Hyne, already?" Squall demanded, turning to look at the clock and confirm for himself, "Get moving, Irvine, we should have left an hour ago—" he continued, moving towards the door.

"After we eat." Irvine interrupted. Causing Squall to pause and give him a confused look. Irvine embellished, "Cid said we could leave after having breakfast in the Cafeteria."

The small frown that had almost always graced Squall's face in the past reappeared then but at length he nodded, "Whatever, but let's hurry."

"Yes, sir," Irvine said, rolling his eyes at his friend's anxiousness. Squall watched him carefully as he collected various items of clothing from around the room and shifted his weight back and forth impatiently.

"Do you mind?" Irvine asked with a raised eyebrow once he had found the clothes he wanted to wear that day.

It took Squall a second to realize what Irvine wanted and he quickly retreated from the room, waiting impatiently for him by the door leading to the halls. Irvine was out a few minutes later in somewhat higher spirits than he had been earlier that morning.

They joined Quistis and Zell in the Cafeteria—them being the only ones from their close-knit group of friends to be out that early. Talk was minimal as a few pleasantries were exchanged and even Zell could tell there was something about Squall this morning. He seemed on edge as he quickly devoured his breakfast and then waited with poorly concealed impatience for Irvine to finish his.

"So, what are you guys up to today?" Zell finally asked, unable to resist his curiosity.

"None of your—"

"We're going to Galbadia." Irvine answered, enjoying the look of irritation on Squall's face as he stopped eating to talk to Zell.

"Galbadia?" Zell and Quistis echoed.

"Why?" Quistis asked.

"I have things to discuss with Eadig." Squall answered, hoping Irvine would hurry up with his breakfast if he covered the talking for him.

"So, you've recovered your memory, then?" Zell asked.

Squall nodded, "Well, part of it, at least. That's what I need to talk with him about." He gave Irvine a pointed look, noticing the sharpshooter hadn't continued his breakfast yet. Irvine, taking the hint, shoveled another forkful of eggs into his mouth.

Squall turned back to the others, satisfied, and continued, "We're leaving right away—well, as soon as this sloth finishes his breakfast—so, I guess, could you tell the others we left?"

"Of course," Zell agreed quickly.

"I assume you've already cleared this with Cid?" Quistis asked.

Squall nodded again, "We spoke with him about it earlier."

Irvine coughed as he almost choked on a bite of sausage.

"Hey, are you alright?" Zell asked his friend with concern.

"He's fine," Squall answered for him, barely giving the cowboy a second glance.

"Your concern is overwhelming, Squall." Irvine commented wryly with a coarse voice before taking a large drink of water.

"Well, you are, aren't you?" Squall asked, slightly irritated at this additional delay in his departure.

"Yeah," Irvine conceded, "It's just, the way you said that: We spoke with him about it earlier, it makes it seem like we just talked with him this morning or something."

"It was just this morning." Squall commented.

"Anytime before six doesn't qualify as morning." Irvine stated firmly.

Zell laughed, "Before six? What time did you guys wake Cid up?"

"Around four-thirty," Irvine answered, grinning as Zell laughed and Quistis almost spit a mouthful of milk out in surprise.

"Four-thirty?" Zell repeated, "That's great! What did he say?"

"Nothing," Squall answered quickly and looked pointedly at Irvine again, "Irvine, hurry up and eat or I'm leaving without you."

"I find it hard to believe the Headmaster had nothing to say about being woken up at four in the morning," Zell pressed, "What did he do?"

"He didn't yell at us, if that's what you're thinking," Squall responded, "he was definitely annoyed with us for waking him, but he was reasonable about it all the same. He wouldn't let us leave right away, though." He glanced back at Irvine.

"Alright, alright," Irvine said around his food as he shoveled the last two bites into his mouth, "I'm done."

Everyone stood from the table as Squall and Irvine stood to leave, "Bye!" Zell called.

"Have a safe trip," Quistis added.

Squall made no reply but Irvine managed a food-muffled, "Later!" before Squall dragged him from the room.

* * *

Irvine sat on the couch in the waiting room, fidgeting nervously every so often. They hadn't even been there for five minutes and he was already anxious. Squall stood motionless in front of the window, staring out of it with an unreadable expression. At last the door opened and a young SeeD walked in. 

"You are the SeeDs from Balamb, correct?" Irvine nodded and Squall turned to face the young woman instead of the window, "Which one of you is Squall Leonhart?"

"I am," Squall answered.

"Then you're Irvine Kinnaes, is that correct?" The woman asked Irvine. He nodded. "Good, follow me, both of you."

Squall and Irvine followed the woman without a word, concentrating mostly on keeping up with the fast pace she set. She led them to the elevator and they took that down to a lower floor even Irvine had never been to before. There were very few people to be seen here and the ones present were all SeeDs—guards, presumably.

At the end of the hallway, the young woman showed two guards standing outside of a room some papers before turning back to Irvine and Squall, "Eadig has been brought to this room to await you, did you want to enter together or—?"

Irvine glanced over at Squall but Squall did not return the gesture, "I'll be going in alone."

"Squall, I don't think that—"

Squall gave the sharpshooter a firm look and he backed down, hesitantly nodding his agreement to the plan. "I'll be fine, Irvine." Squall assured him to take some edge off his attitude.

With everyone in agreement as to how they were going to proceed, one of the guards entered a few digits into a keypad to the side of the door as he gave Squall a few last minute instructions, "Just activate the buzzer on the table or the door when you want to be let out. Several guards will be waiting outside the room to prevent the prisoner from escaping. You have ten minutes."

Squall nodded in understanding and stepped through the door when it opened. As soon as he was in, it hissed shut behind him and his keen ears picked up the sound of the automatic lock falling into place. He quickly glanced across the room and saw his friend sitting in a chair at the far side of the single table that was in the room. He slowly walked over and claimed the chair on his side.

Silence reigned for a long moment before Squall worked up the courage to address his friend and even then it was Eadig who beat him to it, "What's the matter, Squall? Do I look that bad?"

A small smile crept onto Squall's face at the remark as he once again took in the younger man's bedraggled appearance, "You've looked better," he admitted, "Guess they haven't been as lenient on you as they've been with me."

Eadig nodded grimly and returned his eyes to the table, unable to allow himself to meet the eyes of his former friend—and enemy—for long. Squall frowned slightly at the action and debated how to proceed. At length he decided on the direct approach as he couldn't think of any gentle way to approach the subject.

"Eadig, is it all true?" He asked at last, "Is everything Deman, everything you told me true?" Eadig didn't respond, "Just tell me it's true and I'll believe you, tell me it is and I'll discredit anything these SeeDs say as some manipulation of the facts, but please, Eadig, answer my question straight this once." Silence. "If ever you've valued our friendship like I have, please tell me, I think I have a right to know my own past."

At last Eadig raised his eyes, green orbs hesitantly meeting gray. He sighed deeply as he weighed the possibilities and then, "No." Squall could scarcely believe his ears, Eadig lowered his eyes again at the surprised look.

"Squall, you're not who you think you are, we're not what you think we are… I've been in here for almost a month and all I've been doing is thinking about you, Squall, thinking about what we did to you." Once again Eadig met Squall's eyes, "It wasn't fair, it wasn't right at all, I understand that now. It's just, at the time, you know, it seemed like… well, an okay thing to do, I guess…"

"Eadig, what really happened?" Squall asked almost inaudibly.

Eadig's eyes flickered down again as he found himself unable to stand looking into his friend's face, "I never knew how much could happen in three months, how much someone could change in three short months. What seemed right three months ago seems unforgivable now… Squall, I…" He looked up again and the brunette was surprised to see tears brimming in the younger man's eyes, small streams beginning to trickle down his cheeks, "Please, don't make me say it!"

Now Squall turned away, feeling both betrayed and pity for his friend. He wasn't sure exactly what it was the other man was getting at, but he could guess well enough. "You did something, didn't you?" He asked, "It was you, not them, that somehow took away my memory."

An awkward silence reigned until Eadig finally managed to release a weak affirmation of his friend's guess, "Yes. It was us."

Squall felt his world fall to pieces in that instant, everything he had ever known, everything he could remember believing had been a lie and it had just been admitted to him from the mouth of a man he had counted as his friend. His eyes slowly focused on his hands shaking in his lap and he mentally tried to regain control of his confused emotions. He wasn't sure whether to feel angry or sad and until he had made up his mind he resolved to feel neither.

"Squall, listen," Eadig had looked up again, "I'm truly sorry for what happened, for what you've gone through… I wish I could have known then what I know now, but I didn't. I'll understand if you hate me because of this, but please know that for my part I too consider you a friend and that is why I'm going to tell you what has been done." Squall looked up again, finally having reigned in enough control to lock eyes with the other man.

"Can you help me find myself again?" He asked, feeling some of his anger and confusion ebb away as hope resurfaced in him.

"I hope so," Eadig responded, "The human mind is a lot like a computer, the long term memories you form are never truly forgotten. There's a chip, a microchip in your head that prevents you from unlocking those memories, those files if you will—"

"So we take it out." Squall guessed.

"Well, no, it's not that easy," Eadig said, "when it was implanted there wasn't really much concern for your safety and there definitely was no plan to ever remove it. It wasn't designed to be removed and any attempt would probably leave you vegetated for the rest of your life, if you survived."

"Then what can we do?" Squall asked.

Eadig hesitated before responding, "I think I may be able to devise a way to shut it off." He finally said, "It will be risky, but I think I can do it given some time and the right equipment. Once it's shut down you should be able to recover your memories, but you'll have to trust me again."

"I… do trust you, Eadig," Squall said, "for as long as I've known you you've only been there to help me and I can't just ignore that." He laughed weakly, "Actually, to tell you the truth, I'm finding this kind of hard to swallow. You've been one of my friends for as long as I can remember, I just can't imagine you betraying me like that. Of course I trust you… it's getting them to do the same that'll be the hard part," he nodded at the door to indicate the SeeDs outside.

Eadig smiled slightly and shook his head, "Don't call me that again, Squall, I don't deserve to be counted among your friends, not after what I've done. Try to convince them, I'll help right this wrong any way I can."


	8. VIII

Summary: It's about five months since the end of the game, Squall Leonhart has been forced into the role of an international icon, and out of active duty. He finally gets the opportunity to go on another mission, but what happens when things go wrong and he's taken prisoner? Will Squall's friends find him? And what happens when it seems he doesn't want to be found?

Disclaimer: Square owns all things Squall and co. all I conceived of were the circumstances surrounding this story and Deman and co.

A/N: This is probably the fastest I've ever updated this story. Not even a full week between chapters. Thanks for the reviews. If it wasn't the second to last chapter (and me with no desire to make massive changes in the near future), this might have turned out much differently. As it is, things are beginning to almost wrap up.

I'll put the last chapter up next weekend, I think. A week from this Friday or Saturday...

* * *

**_Ardent Deception_**

**VIII.**

"You want to do what?" Irvine demanded after Squall had finished explaining his plan.

"Irvine—"

"No way! Absolutely not! How can you even begin to trust him like that? After what he did to you… he might just as easily end your life!" Irvine continued almost as if he hadn't even heard Squall.

"Irvine, listen," Squall tried to stop the ranting man again.

"No, Squall, you listen! That man's no good, you of all people should know that! Think about it reasonably, don't throw your life at his mercy!"

Squall tightened his jaw and watched as Irvine continued his rant. At last the sharpshooter grew silent. "Are you done?" Squall asked with only slight irritation.

He took Irvine's silence as an affirmation and continued, "You're wrong, Irvine. Eadig isn't a bad person, he just… didn't understand what he was doing at the time, that's all. Anyway, as I understand it, we were enemies, then. But that's not the point, whatever happened in the past happened and there's nothing any of us can do to change it. Eadig's sorry for what he did and he wants us to give him a chance to make it right, I think we should at least give him that."

"Not at the risk of your life," the cowboy argued.

Squall's eyes narrowed, "It's my life, Irvine, I think I have the right to decide how to risk it."

Irvine was about to argue when the Headmaster broke in, "I think Commander Leonhart is right, Mr. Kinnaes." Irvine looked at the man in surprise, "If Squall's willing to trust this man with his life, than we should let him do it. It wouldn't be right to stop what might be his only opportunity to regain his memories."

Irvine glanced between Squall and the Headmaster a few times before finally sighing in defeat, "I guess you're right. Squall, if this is what you really want to do then go for it, I'll help you with whatever you need."

"Thanks, Irvine," Squall said with a small smile before turning back to the Headmaster.

"When would you like to start?" The man asked, glancing at some papers on his desk.

"As soon as possible, sir," Squall answered quickly.

The Headmaster nodded, "Alright, I'll finish up the paperwork and we should be able to get you shipped out in the morning. The best place for research of this kind is Esthar—you'll have to get it approved by Headmaster Cid, of course," he glanced up at the two.

"We'll take care of that, I'm sure it'll be fine." Squall said.

The man nodded again, "Good, my secretary can hook up a line for you and can show you to a room where you can stay tonight." He finished signing one of his papers and looked up at the two men again, "And it's as easy as that. Good luck, Squall."

"Thank you, sir," Squall said with an acknowledging nod.

"Dismissed."

Irvine shot off a quick salute and he and Squall filed out of the room. The secretary met them outside and once Squall had relayed their instructions she quickly opened up a link with Balamb Garden. The face of a young woman Squall didn't recognize appeared on the screen and she and the secretary exchanged a few words before it became black again. Moments later it flickered to reveal Headmaster Cid.

"Irvine, Squall," Cid acknowledged both of them, "I trust you've had an opportunity to speak with Eadig?"

"Yes," Squall answered, "he said he might be able to devise a way that would allow me to regain my memories."

Cid raised his eyebrows in surprise, "Really?" His gaze wandered over to Irvine.

Irvine nodded, "The implant in Squall's head is preventing him from accessing his memories through some… violent repercussions, as we've seen. He claims that while the chip can't be removed, he might be able to find a way to deactivate it."

Cid nodded thoughtfully, "And you think he'll really do it?"

Squall quickly cut in without allowing Irvine time to answer, "I do. Eadig has been my friend for as long as I can recall, I think I'd be able to tell if he were lying to me now."

Cid was silent for a long moment before asking, "Well, what do you need?"

"Leave to go to Esthar," Irvine answered, "Headmaster Jatin is finishing the paperwork to give the prisoner allowance to accompany us. The laboratories and equipment there should provide him with whatever he needs."

Cid regarded the two men carefully for another long moment. At last he nodded, "Alright, Squall, Irvine, I trust you. Do whatever you think is right, I'm sure you won't let me down… And Squall, come back to us in one piece, would you?"

"I'll do my best, sir," Squall replied. The transmission was cut short and Cid faded again to black.

* * *

"Nervous?" Irvine asked. They'd been in Esthar for a week and Eadig was fairly confident he had devised a way to deactivate the implant. 

"Not a bit," Squall lied, finishing the last button on the white hospital shirt he was supposed to be wearing when the operation took place, "you?"

"Nope," Irvine replied with equal credibility. There was silence for a moment and then Irvine finally said, "Are you sure you want to go through with this?"

Squall gave Irvine a barely patient look, "We've been over this a hundred times already."

"I know… but you could've changed your mind," Irvine argued. The look on Squall's face showed he clearly couldn't, "I'll take that as a yes, then."

Squall nodded, "Let's go, Eadig will be waiting."

Irvine nodded and followed him from the room.

They arrived at their room a few minutes later. Eadig was already there, apparently doing a little last minute fiddling with his machinery. His presence, of course, meant that two Esthar guards were present, as well, and a couple of doctors to boot. Squall and Irvine stood by the door, trying vainly not to look nervous.

"Have a seat on the table, Squall," Eadig instructed, "I'll be done here in a moment."

Squall reluctantly obeyed and Eadig finished screwing a box together to make a kind of remote. He turned around to see who all was present and noted Irvine, "You might want to leave…"

Irvine shook his head, "I'll stay."

Eadig shrugged, "Suit yourself." He turned back to Squall, "You might as well lay down, the doctor's going to give you some pain killers before he starts so I doubt you'll be aware enough to sit up."

Squall reluctantly lay back on the table and glanced at the doctor holding a syringe nervously. He had refused to be put to sleep during the operation, like Eadig and the others had wanted, but he hadn't been able to get away with no pain killers. Actually, after hearing what the procedure would be he was almost ready to agree to be knocked out. Almost.

The doctors had by now gathered in around him and were hooking him up to various machines which would constantly monitor his vital systems while they operated. As they finished the last doctor stepped forward and stuck the needle in Squall's arm. Almost immediately the powerful drug took effect and he began to feel disoriented, feeling leaving him and his vision and hearing clouding up. He vaguely heard the voices of the doctors in the background, but nothing was very clear.

Suddenly a sharp sensation of pain broke through his fluffy senses and he cringed. As good as the painkiller might be, it wasn't good enough to block out the pain completely. His eyes tried but didn't manage to refocus so he closed them and tried to keep his mind preoccupied with anything but the clear sensation of pain at the side of his head.

It was actually over sooner than Squall expected, he opened his eyes again to see that Eadig was standing in front of him again. Wires trailed from the small remote he had been setting up for the last week.

"Squall, I'm going to try to deactivate the implant now. We don't really know what to expect, are you ready?" Squall somehow managed to make out the meaning of the other man's question and weakly nodded.

Moments later his left temple began to tingle, then itch, then sting. It was becoming quite irritating when it suddenly seemed to stop. The muffled voices around him halted just as suddenly and the annoying sensation of light right behind his eyelids was gone as well. It was rather disconcerting. Panic slowly rose in him when he tried to move his heavy eyelids but it quickly died out as he found he just didn't have the energy to feel panicked.

* * *

The doctor growled as his aide wiped more blood from his patient's forehead. He had never preformed an operation like this before, the cuts had to be made precisely and carefully or he would end this man's life forever… And the constant comments coming from the people behind him—none of them doctors, mind you—warning him to be careful were not helping. 

The mechanical beating signaling Squall's heartbeat was very slow but there wasn't a whole lot he could do about that just now. He slid the scalpel a little deeper, peeling back another soft layer of protection above his scull. Liquid poured from the incision, mixing with the blood still leaking from his veins and the doctor quickly jerked his hands back, suppressing a curse, and allowed his assistant to mop up the liquid.

As the aide pulled away he saw the source of the extra liquid, a relatively small hole in the young man's scull. "We're through," he announced grumpily to the others, not at all enjoying his 'partnership' with army officers and a convict.

He stiffened as the convict walked up to his side, peering over him. He nodded once as if his unprofessional opinion could possibly mean anything to the doctor and handed him the wires which he was somehow expected to attach to something inside the young man's head he had yet to see.

But the doctor wasn't about to complain and his aide swung the magnifier—attached to a moveable pole for convenience—over the incision. Peering through the tubes, the doctor saw what he was looking for and carefully began to put the wires in place with the use of tiny headed tweezers.

* * *

Squall drowsily opened his eyes, white light flooded down at him almost to the point of blinding him and he quickly shut them again. He dimly became aware of the noises around him, the slow and steady beating of a heart monitor machine, a man's voice coming from somewhere. He decided to try again and slowly opened his eyes once more. 

After blinking a few times, the light seemed much gentler and he was able to look around the room freely. For a long moment he didn't recognize where he was, then he slowly recalled their trip to Esthar—and the reason for it. He idly wondered if he had remembered anything he had forgotten before and then decided he hadn't.

"Squall!" The young man suddenly realized he'd forgotten to find who had been speaking and quickly glanced in the direction of the greeting. He saw a familiar man walking towards him, grinning widely.

"Um—" Squall started slowly, trying hard to recall where he knew this man from. Slowly his memories trickled back into his mind. This was the man he had once dreamt of, imagining he was an idiot—he was surprised he was real. More memories followed this and he slowly recalled that he also happened to be the President of Esthar and the man who devised the plan to defeat the first sorceress. He was… Squall openly blanched.

"Uh, Squall? What's wrong?" The man asked, frowning with concern, oblivious to the doctor hovering behind him.

"You're—" Squall started uncertainly, he faltered but quickly tried again, "You're, err, Laguna, uh President Loire, right?"

The man nodded grinning again, "That's right! I'm glad you remembered, Squall."

Squall, however, wasn't much comforted by this achievement, "And you're… my father?" He finally finished, almost fearing the answer.

Laguna scratched his head nervously, "Well… yeah," he looked at Squall like a deer looking at an oncoming car, "you're not going to attack me again, are you?"

Squall was confused for a moment before he realized the event the man was most likely talking about and he laughed, "No," he responded, much to the older man's relief, "Err, sorry about that. Hope it didn't hurt… too much."

Laguna laughed too, "I've had worse. So… do you remember anything? Well, from before, I mean?"

"I'm not really sure," Squall replied, his mind was still foggy and his thoughts unclear. The few memories that Laguna's appearance had sparked were hard to sort out in any meaningful order so he wasn't really sure what—if anything—was from before, and what was not… that is, whenever 'before' was.

Laguna nodded, "Fair enough. Hey, I'm sure your friend will want to see you, want me to show him in?"

"Sure," Squall answered, trying to decide on who this friend Laguna was talking about was. He watched as the two men left the room and Laguna shortly returned with another man stepping anxiously at his side. His face filled with relief as he saw Squall awake.

"Irvine?" Squall asked uncertainly as more memories slowly filed into his mind. These memories only served to confuse the young man more as images he didn't understand popped into his mind in what seemed like a random order, big gaping holes left even as he tried to sort through them.

"That's me," Irvine confirmed, "how are you feeling?"

"Kind of tired," Squall admitted, "and my head feels like shit."

Irvine chuckled, "Yeah, I would guess so after an operation like that."

Unfocused memories swam lazily in and out of Squall's head as he tried to remember the operation. He slowly pieced together what kind of operation it was and then worked on why he had needed it, his memories coming slowly together like a puzzle—although several pieces still seemed to be missing.

"If you want to rest now, I can leave you alone for a while," Irvine offered, noticing the dazed look on Squall's face, "I was supposed to report back to the Headmaster after your condition stabilized anyway."

Squall tried—badly—to stifle a yawn and nodded his agreement, immediately regretting the action as his head ached from the movement. "That sounds like a good idea, see you later."

Irvine rolled his eyes at Squall's nod but returned one of his own for the statement that followed it. "See you, Squall," he agreed, quietly leaving the room.

* * *

It was almost fifteen hours before Squall slowly entered the realm of consciousness again. He frowned up at the ceiling for a long moment before deciding he was well enough to get up. He had managed to swing his legs down and was sitting unsteadily on the edge of the hospital bed when the door to his room burst open. 

"What are you doing?" Irvine demanded, quickly crossing the short distance that remained between the two of them.

"Getting up," Squall replied concisely.

Irvine, hardly registering the change in Squall's behavior quickly put a restraining hand on the other man's chest, "Squall, you just came out of a dangerous operation, you're in no condition to be getting out of bed."

Squall glared up at the other man and fought as well as he could to retain his upright position, "I feel fine," he said quickly, although the strength he had earlier perceived was waning quickly under the pressure of Irvine's hand.

"Sure you do," Irvine half-heartedly replied as his strength won out and he easily forced Squall back down—the latter not looking very happy at this development.

"How long have I been out?" Squall quickly demanded.

"Total?" Irvine asked, "About forty hours."

Squall's eyes widened slightly but quickly reverted back to normal and he started to sit up again, "Forty hours? I've really got to get back to work."

Irvine rolled his eyes and half-heartedly pushed Squall back down, "I've already reported back to the Headmaster," Irvine told him, "what you need to do now is rest."

"Garden needs me," Squall insisted, "I have responsibilities and—"

Concern suddenly washed over Irvine's face, "Squall, what are you talking about?" He asked uncertainly.

Squall was looking increasingly irritated at Irvine's interruption and apparent ignorance, "My responsibilities as Commander," he embellished a little bitterly, "Garden will fall apart if I'm away for too long."

Irvine sighed and ran a hand through his hair, "Squall, you haven't been Garden Commander for over three months."

Squall frowned in confusion, his eyebrows knit together as he pondered Irvine's comment. Slowly he began to recall exactly what had happened during those three months of absence and his body relaxed on the bed, almost in shock. Irvine watched him carefully as the stormy eyes lost their edge and Squall's face took on an almost dumbfounded expression.

The Galbadian chuckled, "So, you see, there really isn't any reason to hurry back. Take your time and recover first."

Suddenly remembering Irvine was in the room, Squall's face started to gain heat as he fought off a blush of embarrassment. He fought with himself for a moment as the person he had been the last few months and the person he had been for years before that tried to decide what he should say or do next.

Finally Squall managed to open his mouth enough to mumble, "Sorry… about the way I've been acting."

This time Irvine full-out laughed. Squall blinked in surprise. "You don't have to apologize for that!" The sharpshooter said, managing to quickly control his humor, "We all know you weren't exactly in your right mind, and besides, you were acting your age for once! There's no need to be sorry for that. Maybe you should take a lesson from these last few months and remember how to have fun."

Squall was aghast and didn't know what to say. Hundreds of thoughts ran through his head, (Fun? I don't have time for _fun_, Irvine.), (I was acting almost as bad as Zell, of course I need to apologize for that.), (I may not have been in my right mind, but it was my own fault. I should have been more alert to my surroundings then I wouldn't be in this mess at all.)

"See? You think too much." Irvine commented, watching his frowning friend intently.

Squall's thoughts now broke off, he raised his eyes to glare at Irvine again, "I want to speak with the Headmaster."

Irvine frowned, "I don't know if—" he broke off at the hardened expression on Squall's face. "How about tomorrow," he suggested instead.

Squall's glare didn't subside. "It's almost 23.00 now," Irvine explained quickly, "I'm not sure the Headmaster would appreciate another late night call from you."

Squall's eyes quickly snapped down at the bed and Irvine barely kept a snicker to himself as the brunette's skin reddened by several shades. "First thing in the morning, then." Squall said when he felt he was able to control his voice again.

"Sure, Squall." Irvine agreed, grinning down at the clearly embarrassed man.

They were silent for a moment and Irvine took a step back from the bed before addressing Squall again, "Hey, uh, do you mind if Laguna comes in?" He asked hesitantly, "He's been sitting outside pretty much all day—much to Kiros's dismay. He really wanted to see you when you woke up."

Squall didn't reply for a long moment and then his answer was barely more than a whisper, "Whatever." Irvine took this as the closest thing he'd get to a 'yes' and left to retrieve the president.

Squall waited sullenly in his bed, idly recalling the last few meetings he had had with his father. He had never wanted to see the man again after he'd learned the truth. When he did finally see him again, he hadn't even known who he was and yet his reaction was pretty much the same as it would have been had he been in his 'right mind'—as Irvine had put it.

The door cracked open and Squall took an unnoticeable glance at the man entering before returning his eyes to the bed. He had thought he'd be happier not having any father, but after recalling how that felt again, not to have a father, he wasn't so sure. Was it really better to have no father at all than to have one that abandoned you to an orphanage… He didn't even know—

"—why," Squall didn't even realize he'd said that out loud until Laguna's confused voice rang through his ears.

"Excuse me?" A small frown was in place of Laguna's grin as he tried to decipher what Squall's unfinished question had meant.

"Huh?" Squall asked, not quite sure what Laguna was confused about right away.

"Why, what?" Laguna asked. The unsure look on Squall's face suddenly cleared as he realized his mistake.

(Should I…) Squall was silent for several long minutes as he weighed his options. (It's now or never. I need to know.) At last Squall's more direct side won out and he looked up at Laguna again.

"Why did you leave me?" Squall asked, "Why didn't you look for me, why didn't you come back for me?"

For the second time in his life, Laguna was speechless. He had hardly been expecting the question and didn't really have a good answer. He had told himself over and over again he'd probably have to answer the question eventually if Squall was ever back on speaking terms with him again, but it still came as very unexpected. He paled slightly as his leg started cramping up and quickly took the empty seat nearby in a futile attempt of hiding it's effects, although Squall recognized the symptoms from the several times he had shared life with him in the past.

"Uh, err," Laguna scratched the back of his head nervously as he tried to remember the words that he had practiced in his mirror hundreds of times in the past. At last he managed a feeble: "It's a long story."

Squall raised an eyebrow at the excuse, his eyes quickly taking in the room around him. Laguna took the hint and sighed in resignation.

"Alright, Squall," he agreed, silently preparing himself to begin. One last deep breath, "Truth be told, I knew Raine was pregnant when I left to find Ellone," he admitted a bit sheepishly, "We had found out a few days before they took her, but… I also knew we couldn't leave little Elle alone in the hands of those soldiers. So we came to the agreement that I should search for her while Raine remained in Winhill, we didn't want to risk our unborn child.

"We ran into one dead end after another, the months drew on and we traveled pretty much everywhere in the world, the soldiers always one step ahead of us—sometimes two. When we finally tracked her down—well, you know what happened there," Squall nodded concisely with his eyes still locked on the blanket before him, "We finally rescued Elle but the resistance group wanted help with defeating the Sorceress. I had already been away for almost five months and while I really wanted to get back to Winhill—to Raine, her unborn child and Ellone, I felt in debt to the people for helping me save Elle, well, that and I kind of wanted a little revenge myself for her dragging me halfway across the world.

"So, I sent Elle home to help Raine and I stayed in Esthar and helped seal Sorceress Adel away. I was all set to go home when they popped another proposition on me, they wanted me to stay and be the new president of Esthar." He scratched his head again, more than a little embarrassed to continue. Another deep breath, "I'd be lying if I said I wasn't flattered by the proposition, tempted by the draw of so much power, but I refused, explaining my condition and they seemed to understand.

"But… they suggested that I should take up a temporary leadership role, just to get the country on it's feet again… I eventually agreed to this and wound up staying in Esthar a lot longer than I had planned. It was almost a year before I was able to leave. Kiros and Ward stayed behind to fill in for me while I was away, I was planning on asking Raine if she and Ellone would come live in Esthar with me… But when I got there I couldn't find her anywhere…

"After asking around for a while, I finally managed to get the townspeople to tell me what had happened to her… they told me she was… dead," Laguna was looking at the floor now, bravely fighting back the tears that threatened his eyes. He swallowed down the growing lump in his throat and continued on, "I asked about Ellone… they said she'd been put someplace safe, but wouldn't tell me any more than that." He paused once again, looking up at Squall sheepishly, "I hate to admit it, but there was so much on my mind at the time I didn't even think about our baby right away. It wasn't until I visited her grave and read the lines written on it that I suddenly remembered about our child.

"Well, I ran back to the town and demanded to know what had happened to you… they told me that both Raine and the child died from complications with the pregnancy… I should have guessed they were lying, they never liked me and they hated that Raine and I had gotten together. I sensed that they were hiding something from me, but I never imagined…" he drew a tired hand down his face, "I guess part of me wanted to believe the lie, I had so many responsibilities already going on right then, I wasn't sure that I could handle an infant to top it all off…

"I got sucked into work again after that although I frequently took time off to go on trips, searching for Ellone. I looked all over the place and couldn't find her anywhere. I eventually wound up back at Winhill, it was exactly seven years since Raine's death and they were holding a memorial service… white flowers everywhere, the kind Raine used to like. One of the townspeople saw me there… I guess she felt sorry for me, I wasn't exactly looking my best. She and Raine had been very good friends… She told me everything."

Laguna cast another guilty look at Squall but saw his eyes still riveted to the bed before him. "I went to the orphanage she said they left Ellone… and my son—I was surprised that it was the same place I had been to about two years before. The orphanage was closed down but the Matron was still living there. I asked her about you and she reluctantly directed me to Balamb… she asked me not to look for you, but I couldn't help it, I had to see you for myself.

"So, I went to Balamb and found the Garden… and there you were, only seven years old and at the top of your class… you looked so much like… well, you seemed happy enough… and I didn't want to complicate your life by stepping in all of a sudden. You'd been all alone up till then and I didn't think I had any right to make a mess of everything, to barge in and demand my son back when I hadn't been there at all the years before…" Laguna sighed, his shoulders slouching low in his chair, "I was afraid what you would think of me… I hadn't found you when you were growing up in that orphanage, you hadn't seen me in all your life and I was afraid you'd hate me…"

There was a long silence and then he added, "Squall, I'm so sorry. I thought you were getting along fine without me, at least that's what I kept telling myself. I told myself you'd only hate me more for barging back into your life…"

There was another long silence which Squall finally broke with a whispered statement, "You should have asked."

A brief smile flitted across Laguna's face, mostly just because he had gotten a response which was more than he'd been counting on before. He nodded, "I should have," he agreed, "I know it won't help now… but if I could do it all again I would have. I would have barged back into your life whether you'd hate me for it or not, I would have demanded the truth sooner, I would have searched for you more instead of concentrating all my efforts on Elle… but, as you should know… You can't change the past."

Squall nodded but made no comment this time. For as long as he could remember—which was significantly far back, now—he had wondered who his parents were and what had happened to them. As much as he tried to convince himself that he didn't care, there had always been that gnawing curiosity. After he had discovered Laguna was his true parent, the cheerful, kind man that had loved his Sis so much, he had jumped to the conclusion that there was something wrong with himself, that that is why his father had never searched for him. It led to hostility between the two, hatred on his part, if Laguna couldn't bother to love him, he sure wasn't going to love him back. He had never imagined there could have been a misunderstanding, it didn't make sense.

Now that he had an explanation, he still wasn't satisfied. He always thought a simple explanation would make everything work out, logical reasoning would sort out his feelings and he could be content with knowledge. But just _knowing_ what had happened all those years ago didn't make up for it. He had still lived seventeen years without a father and nothing Laguna told him now could make up for that. It was disappointing.

Laguna watched Squall as the younger man brooded for several long minutes. At last, with a small, defeated sigh, Laguna rose from his chair and disdainfully made his way from the room. He stole a glance back from the door, but Squall hadn't even looked after him, he was off in a world of his own. Laguna shut the door to leave his son in peace.

* * *

Irvine frowned as he looked through the window to Squall's room. The other man had been absolutely unresponsive the last couple of days, and he had a feeling he knew why. Irvine knew Laguna was Squall's father, everyone knew that, they had pieced the clues together long ago. The only one who apparently didn't guess was Squall… and when the President had worked up enough courage to tell him… well, the SeeD hadn't taken it very well. It hardly surprised him that after Squall, with his recently acquired memories, had spoken with the estranged father, he was in a particularly sullen mood. It was only in light of his recent behavior that it seemed strange. 

As much as he had wanted Squall back, memories and all, he had rather enjoyed the new Squall who was much more open with his emotions and feelings, who acted much like a normal teenager. Now that he was back to his moody, introspective self, now that the 'old Squall' was back and their goal was accomplished… he wasn't quite convinced it was worth it. If only he had held onto a bit of that spunk. He shrugged mentally and opened the door—after all, Squall will be Squall and there's no way he could tell him how to act.

Squall, surprisingly, glanced up at his entrance before returning his glassy gaze to the sheets. Irvine ambled over to the bed and addressed his friend, "Well, the doctors have given the okay for you to leave, Squall." He stated neutrally, "We can go back to Garden now, like you wanted."

Squall nodded absent-mindedly. (That's good, I have lots of work to get back to—or maybe I don't. Will they give me my job back? Do my friends want me back? After everything I've done? … Maybe I should just stay here another week or two.) He settled down a little deeper into his pillow.

Irvine raised an eyebrow, "Come on," he said, "you're not going to be like that, are you? Just three days ago you were talking about how you couldn't wait to get back, how the Garden would fall apart if you were absent for too long! What happened to all that?"

"…" Squall reluctantly replied in a small voice, "They've done fine the last four months."

Irvine openly blanched, completely surprised by the unexpected answer. Not only was he not expecting any answer, but he definitely hadn't been expecting one like that, not from the mighty Leonhart. "That's a load of bull," he replied as soon as he managed to get over his shock, "the whole Garden's been in a state of anxiety since you disappeared, and it's only gotten worse since the student body got wind of what happened. You know how these things work, I'll be surprised if they haven't already killed each other, fighting amongst themselves over whether they should come rescue their lost Commander once again."

Squall shot Irvine a skeptical look, (They wouldn't do that… I'm not even that important.)

"I'm serious!" Irvine exclaimed. Squall remained unconvinced. Irvine decided to try another tactic, "Alright, say Cid and Xu have somehow managed to keep the students under control with their beloved idol gone, what about your friends? They've all been a wreck since you disappeared, Rinoa especially. She's driving herself crazy with worry back at Garden while you lay here enjoying the Estharian high life… Or don't you care about her anymore either?"

Squall's look flashed with shock at the question before he managed a gloomy glare, (Of course I still care about Rinoa!) He growled to himself, fighting against his baser instinct to jump Irvine at the mere suggestion that he might not, (I doubt she still cares about me, though… Not after—) he allowed his thoughts to break off.

Irvine sighed, "Well, if you're not going to come back to Garden, then you're going to have to resign," he said at last, "and to do _that_ you'll need to meet with the Headmaster, and _he_ is at Garden. So one way or another, you'll have to go back there, so let's just get it over with already! You can decide what you want to do after we get there, deal?"

(He's right… I probably should resign. It's not like they need me anymore.) Squall nodded briefly. Irvine allowed himself a small smile of victory and moved to help Squall out of bed. Squall shot him a dangerous glare, his eyes suitably warning the sharpshooter that should he touch him he could not ensure he wouldn't meet with an untimely death and Irvine quickly backed off.

After getting to his feet, Squall took a moment to regain his bearings, he hadn't even been in bed for a full week, but his legs were still a little unsure about his weight and he didn't want to stumble and give Irvine the opportunity to help him. This was something he wanted to do himself, he would get back to Garden, inform Cid of his resignation and then… well, he'd cross that bridge when he came to it.


	9. IX

Summary: It's about five months since the end of the game, Squall Leonhart has been forced into the role of an international icon, and out of active duty. He finally gets the opportunity to go on another mission, but what happens when things go wrong and he's taken prisoner? Will Squall's friends find him? And what happens when it seems he doesn't want to be found?

Disclaimer: Square owns all things Squall and co. all I conceived of were the circumstances surrounding this story and Deman and co.

Warning: There's a considerable amount of (shudders) _fluff_ in this chapter... Well, I consider it... fluff... But maybe it's not, really. You can decide.

A/N: Well, this is it. The LAST chapter of AD. When I wrote it, I was thinking of a sequel... I doubt that's ever going to happen. But, because of that, there's this little scene at the end that kind of enigmatically hints at future possibilities for this story. Kind of like an epilogue, I guess.

Some parts of this chapter were edited out because I felt they were pointless. So, if there's any confusion or if you want to know more about some given situation, let me know. I can explain whatever it is, and if I think it's necessary, I'll go back and edit the story content to contain the answer to your question.

I hope you enjoyed AD. I'm proud of it as the first decent story I've completed. (I completed a long humor story back when I first started writing, but looking back on it, I cringe.) Since the story is over, and you've had the chance to read all of it, this will be the only time I'm actually going to ask for it, but...

Please review and let me know what you thought of the story! (Especially if you haven't reviewed yet.)

_**

* * *

Ardent Deception **_

**IX.**

An hour and a half of brooding later, Squall found himself looking up at Garden from the outside for the first time since he had retrieved his memories. His mind inadvertently flashed back to the awe he had felt the first time he looked upon it and he suddenly felt at home, like he hadn't felt for months. A pang of guilt hit him at being away for so long and his stomach began to get queasy as he thought of what he was here to do. He just hoped he wouldn't see any of his friends, that might crush his feeble resolve completely.

Irvine waited until Squall was ready to start forward again. He took the man's hesitation as a good sign and took the moment to reflect on the beauty of Garden himself. He had grown up in the Galbadian Garden, it's military strictness was a stark difference to the laid back feeling Balemb held. And, of course, Selphie was waiting in there for him… he glanced back at Squall, again impatient to get moving.

Squall was completely ignorant to Irvine's anxiousness and started the familiar walk up to Garden on his own accordance. He silently relished in the familiar process, entirely enjoying the repetitiveness of each step as his mind put his body on auto, remembering doing this exact thing countless times in the past. It was good to have a place you knew so well, a place where you belong.

He acknowledged the doorman's salute as he entered and slowly climbed the steps leading up to the main complex, relishing in the predictable familiarity of every step as he went. It was a stark difference from the constant feeling of loss he had endured for the last several months. Relief washed over him as he stepped into the elevator with Irvine and keyed in the request for it to bring him to the third floor. They hadn't run into anybody, just like he wanted. The doors slid open and he absent-mindedly stepped from the elevator, suddenly overcome with his nervousness with the task at hand—although he took care to hide his worry from Irvine.

Therefore he was taken by complete surprise when a high pitched voice squealed: "Squall!" with delight and a person considerably shorter than himself suddenly latched onto him in a surprisingly strong hug. After managing to wrench the said person off of him, he looked down with growing dismay at Selphie's beaming face. His dismay grew as his gaze quickly scanned the room to find the rest of his friends standing around him, all smiling at his return.

"How are you feeling?" Quistis asked as Squall half-heartedly urged Selphie on to her usual place at Irvine's side—Irvine gratefully accepted her.

"Fine," the answer was completely automatic and it was out before he even realized what he was saying. His mind catching up with his mouth, he quickly added, "I need to see the Headmaster."

"Already?" Selphie complained, wiggling out of Irvine's arms, "But we set up a party for you and everything! Don't you want to go to that first?"

Squall attempted to steel himself from his friend's begging but found he was torn as to which he should do. He knew if he didn't see Cid now he might lose his nerve but at the same time he really wanted to spend some time with his friends, after all he hadn't seen them in months… well, he had, but they hadn't exactly been friends most of that time. His eyes gazed over the expectant faces around him and came to rest on one face in particular.

Hers was the one face that hadn't looked ecstatic at his return. Her brown eyes were looking at the ground and her face was pale with ugly dark circles under her eyes. She looked much worse for the wear, although she still looked beautiful to him, and a longing to hold her like he hadn't known before suddenly overpowered all his other wants. Silently slipping back into a spontaneous mode he thought he had abandoned, Squall swiftly crossed the room and did just that.

Rinoa looked up in surprise as her boyfriend wrapped his arms around her and as she realized just what was happening unshed tears welled up in her eyes. Behind Squall, Irvine quietly motioned everyone out of the room and the two of them were soon alone.

"Squall… I missed you so much…" Rinoa whimpered, returning the embrace and allowing some of her tears to finally fall.

"I'm so sorry," Squall whispered back, gently stroking the young woman's hair with one hand as the other held her tightly, "Everything I did… I apologize."

Rinoa didn't pretend she didn't know what he was talking about, instead she replied, "You didn't know what you were doing," he was about to interrupt, to insist it was no excuse but she continued, "It doesn't matter anymore, anyway. You're back now, and that's all that matters… We're together again."

Squall smiled and if anything held her tighter, "I don't ever want to be away from you again," he whispered, his earlier decision to leave Garden all but gone from his mind. He would go wherever Rinoa went, whether she wanted to stay at Garden or return to D.C.

* * *

Squall had not gone to Selphie's welcome back party. He spent the entire afternoon with Rinoa, instead. They didn't talk much, they didn't need words. Her very presence was enough for him—he never did get around to handing in his resignation. It was only eight when she escorted him back to his room, insisting that he had just been released from the hospital and he needed plenty of sleep. Squall reluctantly agreed since he could no longer hide his yawns and he was fighting a losing battle trying to keep his eyes open. 

He was soon back in the small cadet's room he had been sharing with Irvine, they hadn't bothered to switch him back to his old room just yet which suited him just fine. He stared up at the black ceiling, his thoughts slowly wheeling down. (It's good to be back… I can't believe I wanted to leave this place for good… Leave her for good…)

A small smile spread across his lips at the very thought of Rinoa and he allowed his eyes to close again, to be engulfed completely in darkness. Within moments he was asleep, unaware of his surroundings, but for the first time in months he was at peace.

* * *

_Squall shivered in the dark. His whole body was cold and racked with pain, a slow, even throbbing shooting through his head that prevented him from stringing together any complicated thoughts. His eyes reluctantly opened again, at least the whipping had stopped._

"_As fun as that might be, I have something else in mind." Squall's eyes quickly zeroed in on the man speaking, no sooner doing so than his mind flashed with pain. He blinked hard several times, trying to see through the blinding light that seemed to be before him and at length his eyes focused painfully on the face._

"_D-deman?" Squall voiced, his throat aching at the unwanted use, "What… what's going on?"_

_The man smirked, "Just a little experiment, sport… but don't worry, it's perfectly safe."_

_Squall suddenly realized there was another man beside him, doing something he couldn't see to his head. He gasped as a searing pain washed over him, throbbing from the point the man was touching. He looked back up at Deman, pain shining in his eyes as he fought back the urge to scream, "Deman."_

_His friend just smirked down at him, "It hurts, doesn't it, Squall? Hurts to be betrayed by your friends…" He stepped closer, touching his temple where the other man had been pressing moments before. At the moment of contact, pain shot through him again, more intense than before, "Scream for me, Squall, no one will help you now." The pain seared even more and Squall screamed, his head fit to burst.

* * *

_

Squall's eyes snapped open at the scream, and he shut his mouth as soon as he realized it was his own. His forehead was drenched in sweat and he was breathing hard, but there was no pain shooting from his temple anymore. His eyes roamed the room, the familiar room that was issued to every Garden cadet.

The door burst inwards and Squall's wide eyes quickly focused on the stumbling figure that was Irvine entering his room. The sharpshooter was wearing black shorts and a white T-shirt, he was carrying his shotgun and his sharp eyes quickly took in the room. Seeing no immediate danger, he lowered his weapon and turned to the now thoroughly awake Squall.

"Are you okay?" Irvine asked, looking at him with concern.

Squall quickly looked away, his eyes eventually landing on the clock reading 3:00 in small red letters. "I'm fine." He breathed at length. Part of him wanted to tell Irvine what he had just dreamed, wanted someone to assure him it was just a nightmare… but a stronger part of him knew that wasn't all it was, and didn't want to show the sharpshooter what it considered a weakness.

Irvine cocked an eyebrow, "You're fine," he repeated skeptically, "Look, I don't get out of bed at three in the morning for just anything. You were shouting and I want to know why."

A wave of bitterness and irritation washed over the brunette. He hadn't asked Irvine to wake up, he didn't need him checking on every sound he made. But another part of him was a little glad he asked… His reply still came out as an irritated snap, "It was just a dream, okay?… I don't even remember it anymore." He added although it was a lie.

"Sounds more like a nightmare," Irvine mused.

Squall glared at him, (Of course it was a nightmare, even you can't possibly think that was a scream of delight.)

Irvine shrugged, "I guess I should've expected as much, though. Hyne knows I've had my fair share over all this."

Squall couldn't help but be surprised at this revelation, (What do you have to have nightmares over?)

"Think about it." Irvine replied before striding back out the way he had come. Squall watched after him with confusion before he realized he had said that last thought out loud. He flushed slightly and lay back down on his bed… (What _does_ he have to have nightmares about? I'm the one who's gone through all this. I'm the one with the scars, not him.)

His mind wandered again, slowly winding it's way down again when realization suddenly hit him. Irvine's voice echoing in his mind, _(I'll stay with you through this Squall…)_ He rolled over and closed his eyes again, quite unsure whether this realization was a comforting one or not.

Squall didn't manage to get to sleep again after that. The hours passed and he merely stared up at his dark ceiling, the wall next to him, and the clock on his bedside drawers, thinking about all that he could remember as he had been doing for the past week in the hospital. Only this time his thoughts lingered more on the past few months than anything. On his friendship with Eadig and Deman… and on their betrayal.

As soon as the morning was late enough that his presence wouldn't seem too rude, Squall left straight for the Headmaster's office, not bothering to wake Irvine who was still asleep in the other room. Squall burst into Cid's office even before the man's secretary had time to inform him of his arrival. Cid looked up in surprise and quickly noted the intense look on the young Commander's face.

"Problem, Squall?" He asked.

"What did you do with Eadig?" Squall asked immediately.

Cid was slightly taken aback, "Well, I haven't done anything with him yet," he answered, "Eventually he'll be returned to the Galbadian government, tried, and punished by their courts. Why? What's wrong?"

Squall ignored the question, "So he's still in Esthar?"

Cid nodded, "I believe so," he agreed, "he's being held there until Garden officially decides what should be done with him."

Squall quickly slipped into a strict salute, "Permission to go immediately to Esthar, sir."

"Now wait a minute," Cid said, raising his voice as a frown crossed his face, "Why do you want to go to Esthar? Wait, I can guess that well enough. But what do you plan on doing once you get there?"

Squall didn't answer but shifted uneasily under the Headmaster's gaze.

Cid sighed, sitting behind his desk and motioning Squall to a chair as well. He wasn't surprised at all when the SeeD didn't accept the offer. "I suppose we should have thought of this before," the Headmaster admitted, "we all assumed you would want him dealt with according to the law, we assumed once you knew what happened you would want him punished…"

He studied Squall's face, years of guardianship and watching the boy grow into the young man before him giving him the skills he needed to get even a slight clue as to what he was thinking. "But you don't want that, do you? Well, then, why don't you explain this to me, Squall. Your opinion is just as legitimate as anyone else's, probably more so in this case."

Squall took a deep breath, preparing himself for the longest speech he had ever given to a superior officer, "With all due respect, sir," he started, "I request Eadig to be released." The surprise on Cid's face did not go unnoticed, merely unmentioned, "I understand that four months ago he was engaged in terrorist activity, he kidnapped and presumably had a hand in killing several ranking SeeDs and even had a predominant role in my capture and… torture," Squall continued, hesitantly admitting this all while trying to keep his emotions out of his mind for now.

"I was… manipulated in part at his hand and, under his command, continued the terrorist attacks at his side…" Squall paused, taking another deep breath, "but, respectfully, sir, the last three months have taught me things I could never have learned here. As much as I enjoy my work here, what Eadig and the Egeslics offered me was something I'd never experienced before. For the first time in my life I was able to express myself in any way I wanted, there was nothing holding me back. Eadig, as well as some of the others, became good friends of mine and while I can't say I've forgiven him for what happened… I request that he isn't punished for it at this time. I believe he's changed since four months ago and will be able to make a successful integration back into society if given the chance."

Squall kept his eyes carefully glued to the wall behind Cid, not wanting to see how the man was taking this unusual show of emotion.

Cid studied him for a long moment before replying, "And if we don't agree?" He prompted.

Squall's lips tightened, his face set in a mask of determination. He didn't want to think about that eventuality. Cid got the message.

The older man sighed, "Squall, you leave me in a difficult spot, here. Give me a few days to sort this out with Galbadia and I'll get back to you on our decision…"

Squall hesitated, waiting for the man to continue, but finally opened his mouth when he didn't, "Sir, about my leave," he prodded.

"Don't you think it would be best if you remained here until we made our final decision?" Cid asked, "It will only be a few days delay, a week at the most. You can use the time to get reacquainted with your friends."

Squall carefully kept his mask in place, "With your permission, sir, I'd like to leave immediately… I don't think I'll be able to function properly here until I've dealt with this matter."

Cid reluctantly nodded, "Agreed. Although, I'd appreciate it if you told your friends goodbye first…" he paused for a moment then added, "and take someone with you, too… I don't want to take any risks with you at this time."

(He thinks I need a babysitter? I'm not that unstable.) Squall nodded, "Understood." He snapped off another quick salute and swiftly left the room, eager to get underway.

* * *

Since it was still early in the morning, Squall headed to the Cafeteria. He wasn't hungry himself, but found an out of the way table to wait for his friends at. From past experience, he knew none of them would be up and about just yet, but he was eager to leave and so prepared himself for the wait. 

It didn't take as long as Squall feared for the first of the gang to show up. Quistis and Zell walked in not ten minutes later, talking to each other in low, confidential voices. Their conversation stopped a little after they entered the room and, after they'd gotten their trays, they quickly found Squall, smiled, and made their way over to his table.

"Hey, man, where were you yesterday?" Zell asked, sitting down opposite him, "You completely missed your party!"

Squall didn't reply but felt a good deal of satisfaction at having missed the party. He'd always hated large gatherings, even when he hadn't known who he was he did. He just wasn't a very social person, under any conditions.

Quistis smirked, as if reading the thoughts on his mind, "He probably missed it on purpose," she noted, "Did you and Rinoa have a good time, then?"

A sappy smile had crossed Squall's face at the mention of Rinoa's name before he could stop it, although he wiped it out as quickly as he could. Zell and Quistis had both seen it, however, and had quite a laugh at their friend's expense.

Before long Selphie and Rinoa joined them, and Irvine a bit after that—still looking plenty tired. Now everyone was around him, it was the moment he had been waiting for. His eyes met with Rinoa's and he couldn't bring himself to say a thing.

His friends all chatted happily for a while, Squall remaining skillfully silent, musing internally about his current dilemma. At length, one of the others noticed this.

"What's up, Squall?" amazingly, it was Zell, "You seem really quiet. I mean, more than usual."

Squall kept his eyes down this time, not willing to get caught in Rinoa's snare once again, "I'm leaving." He replied quietly.

Gasps flew around the table, "What?" Selphie asked, echoing the main question on everyone's breath.

"Only for a little while," Squall offered hastily.

"Why?" Quistis asked.

"I've got some… unfinished business." Squall answered evasively.

"You're going back to Esthar then, or what?" Irvine questioned.

Squall finally glanced up, meeting the gaze of the cowboy, "Actually, Irvine, we're going back to Esthar."

It took about five seconds for Squall's message to sink into Irvine's fuzzy mind, "Wait a minute, what do you mean 'we'?" He asked after a considerable silence.

"The Headmaster thinks it would be best if I brought you with," Squall explained calmly, adding under his breath, "although I really don't see why I should need a babysitter."

Next to him, Selphie giggled, earning strange looks from the others who had not overheard Squall's last comment.

Irvine sighed, "Alright, when are _we_ leaving?"

"The train departs in two hours," Squall replied.

Irvine snorted, "Good thing I didn't have a chance to unpack, then."

"You have to leave already?" Rinoa asked quietly, looking up at Squall with imploring brown eyes.

Squall immediately felt awkward, starting to think that maybe he should stay… a few more days at least. He mentally shook his head, "Yes, I think it would be all around best if I got this out of the way now."

Rinoa looked down sadly but nodded, "Alright, Squall… you'll be coming back soon, right?"

"I hope so," Squall replied truthfully, "it shouldn't take more than a week at most."

Rinoa gave him a clearly forced smile, "That's not too bad, then… I'll miss you, Squall." She said before turning and walking off. Squall was secretly glad she was gone, behind her flew the great amount of pressure that had been building up in his mind, willing him to stay. Now that she was gone it was a simple matter of getting Irvine down to the station.

* * *

Okay, so getting Irvine down to the station hadn't been as easy as Squall had initially thought. First he had to practically drag him away from the others, being forced to bring Selphie back to their room in the end. He then had to endure at least ten minutes of the two acting 'romantic' before Irvine would get into the car. Irvine proceeded to talk his ear off all the way to Balamb, going on and on about—you guessed it—Selphie. As much as Squall valued Selphie as a friend… if he heard one more word about her he was sure he'd flip—assuming he wasn't crazy already. 

The train ride itself wasn't that exciting. It basically consisted of Squall brooding, Irvine trying to make conversation, Irvine giving up and trying to sleep, Squall still brooding, Irvine waking up—due to some 'bump' from the train which Squall always insisted he didn't notice—trying to make conversation again, Squall still brooding, Irvine giving up again… and so on, in a viscous cycle. But, almost five hours later, the train finally dropped the duo off at Esthar Station—along with most of it's other passengers.

Irvine stifled a yawn, "So, where do we check in? Presidential palace or nearest hotel—makes no difference to me as long as it has beds."

Squall shot Irvine a glare, "You just slept for five hours on the train, are you still tired?"

Irvine crossed his arms indignantly, "I didn't sleep for five hours! I don't think I even got one hour's worth of good sleep in, what with the train jumping tracks like it kept on doing!"

Squall raised an eyebrow, "It was the smoothest ride I've been on in a while."

Irvine attempted to glare at the brunette, but the effect was destroyed when he yawned again.

Squall fought back the urge to laugh, "Fine, we'll check into an inn."

"Right behind you, oh fearless commander!" Irvine exclaimed, marching behind him for a few steps before he lost his momentary spurt of energy and resorted back to a half-asleep stagger. Squall tried to pretend he wasn't there.

* * *

Squall waited about as long as he could after he woke up to rouse his roommate. It was about five in the morning when he finally couldn't wait any longer and forced his friend into the land of the living. The sharpshooter was less than pleased when he noticed the sun hadn't even risen yet and it was still dark outside. 

Ignoring his companion's complaints, Squall quickly found his way to his first stop—and promptly halted outside the house that was his destination. Irvine waited with already thin patience for several minutes for Squall to make his next move, but the brunette continued to stand in indecision.

"Well? Are we stopping here or moving on?" Irvine asked, "Either way, let's get on with it, otherwise I'm going back to our hotel."

Squall shot the cowboy a weak glare but didn't respond otherwise. Voices could be heard inside the house during the silence that ensued… Irvine quickly lost patience again.

"Look, do you want me to knock?" Squall quickly shook his head, a very brief look of panic passing across his features. Irvine sighed, "Where are we anyway?"

"Ellone's house," Squall answered concisely, knowing the other man would understand without further explanation.

Irvine grinned, "That's great! I haven't seen her in a while, she's probably dying to know how you're doing. So… what are we waiting for?"

"… I don't want to intrude."

Irvine rolled his eyes, "Ellone won't mind, you're practically her little brother! Besides, would you mind if she showed up at your house?"

Squall shook his head, reluctantly admitting: "No."

"Then there's no problem!" Irvine exclaimed. Squall continued to be reluctant and the cowboy sent him a threatening look, "Either you go knock on that door _right now_, or _I'll_ do it _for_ you!"

Squall glared at him, (You wouldn't…)

Irvine took a step closer to the door. Squall still didn't move, firm in his belief that Irvine wouldn't go through with it. Irvine took another step, then another. His hand was only inches away from the wood when Squall finally scrambled up and shoved him away, shooting him an irritated glare before firmly pounding on the wooden door. Irvine grinned triumphantly in response.

The sinking feeling in Squall's stomach quickly intensified until, several long moments later, the door finally swung open. The young Commander felt almost nauseous when Ellone's face appeared in the doorway, but he swiftly pushed the feeling aside.

The young woman, apparently, didn't notice Squall's plight and she quickly drew him into a hug, grinning widely while tears of joy ran down her cheeks. "Uncle Laguna told me about your operation," she sobbed happily, "I'm so glad you're alright.

Squall felt increasingly uncomfortable as he realized exactly what was happening, but he managed to give her a small hug back before gently pushing her away. Ellone quickly wiped the tears from her cheeks and invited both young men in. She led them to the sitting room where two little boys sat on a couch arguing loudly—a girl of the same age watching interestedly. Ellone plucked one of the boys from the couch—effectively barring the progress of their verbal war—and sat down with him on another, inviting Squall and Irvine to do the same—minus a kid.

* * *

Half a week and several awkward visits with family later, Squall finally received the okay from Cid to implement his plan. Apparently the man had arranged a parole for Eadig, the details of which would be worked out later. Unfortunately, this news had reached him after the palace had closed for the night, and he had been forced to wait until morning to do anything about it. Which is why he was leaning over Irvine's sleeping figure at five in the morning trying to decide the best way to wake him up. 

As if sensing the presence over him, Irvine's eyes blinked open and he jerked back in surprise when he saw Squall's face less than two feet away. Squall straightened, a small smirk fighting to appear on his face.

"Don't _do_ that!" Irvine exclaimed, "What do you want?"

"To go down to the palace," Squall answered without missing a beat, "Are you ready?" He obviously wasn't.

Irvine reluctantly pulled himself out of bed, grabbing his pants which were draped over a chair, "It isn't even open this early, is it?" He asked, pulling on his shirt after the pants.

"Which gives us time for breakfast," Squall reasoned, "and maybe a morning run. You're getting out of shape."

"I'm…!" Irvine sputtered, spinning around to face his friend, who was smirking again. He silently fumed for a moment and then gave up, slapping his hat onto his head he growled, "Fine. I'd _love_ to go for a run with you, Squall, who needs sleep?"

Squall was halfway out the door already when he turned around and Irvine muttered a curse under his breath and grabbed his jacket while following after him.

* * *

The two approached the presidential palace two hours later, Irvine a little red in the face. Squall strode purposefully up to the desk, his friend following behind him. 

"Squall Leonhart," he said upon the secretary's questioning look, "I'm here to see Eadig." It only just occurred to him that he didn't know the other man's last name.

The man nodded, "You're expected," he confirmed and rummaged through one of the drawers for a moment before reemerging with a pair of pass cards reading 'Guest' and 'Clearance B' along the bottom. "You'll need these to get through security," he explained, then proffered them a sheet of paper, "I'll just need you both to sign in on this…"

Squall picked up a pen that was lying within easy reach and scribbled down his signature, then handed the pad to Irvine and he did the same. The secretary smiled and handed them their passes, "Have a good day."

The two SeeDs had been in this lower section of the palace almost two weeks earlier, as it was where Eadig had been kept during their stay, so they didn't need to get directions. As they stepped off the lift, they found this area of the palace was already quite alive. Laguna was there, having a serious discussion with a man in a suit, and several ranking military officials in Galbadian uniforms were milling about, as well. There were other men in suits among the company also, but Squall couldn't quite place where they were from.

A group of young people saluted Squall as he stepped off the elevator, and he casually noticed their black uniforms, recognizing them as Galadian SeeDs. He returned the salute, then approached the president and whoever he was talking with.

"Ah, Squall," Laguna greeted, cutting off his conversation abruptly, much to his companion's irritation, "I have to admit, we were a little surprised to receive your request. It's quite unorthodox, you know."

Squall nodded sharply and bit back a retort. (Laguna, of all people, calling something unorthodox.) "Is everything prepared?"

"We haven't made all the decisions yet," Laguna said, "we still have to decide where to place him after his release, and in whose custody, but I think we're all in agreement that he will be released." He looked pointedly at the man he had been speaking with when Squall entered.

The man nodded reluctantly, "Of course."

"Can I talk to him?" Squall asked, a little unsure about whether he really wanted to or not. It felt awkward to be facing him again, now that he had his memories back, and could clearly hear his voice echoing in his mind from the time he'd been their prisoner. It also felt like something he needed to do.

Laguna nodded and pointed out a door, "He's right in there, Squall."

Squall wove through the crowd of people to the door, and didn't say anything as Irvine followed him into the room. They shut the door and suddenly the talking voices were shut out to nothing more than an unnerving murmur. Eadig glanced up from the bench he was sitting on.

His eyes returned to the ground after briefly connecting with Squall, "I heard you got your memories back," he muttered.

Squall nodded, not sure what to say. "Yeah… thanks… I guess."

Eadig looked up at him, an eyebrow arched, "Thanks?" He repeated, "I'm the one who took them away in the first place."

"Without your help I might not have been able to ever recover them," Squall said, "you didn't have to do that."

"I did," Eadig said, his eyes falling again "I wouldn't have been able to live with myself if I didn't." There was an awkward pause. "So… I assume all those people are out there for a reason. Did they finally decide what to do with me?"

"… Yeah," Squall answered.

Eadig raised his eyes again, "And…?"

"They're letting you go," Squall provided.

Eadig's eyes widened in shock, "What? After everything I did they're _letting me go_? Just like that?"

"Well… it's a paroled freedom," Squall admitted, "but it's better than nothing, right?"

"Better than anything I ever expected," Eadig said, his eyes returning to the floor, smiling a little. He paused again and frowned, "Why?"

Squall didn't answer, and when Eadig looked up again he noticed the teen had found something very interesting on the floor and seemed to be in the process of devising a lengthy report about it in his head. "Squall?"

When the brunette again wasn't forthcoming with a response, Irvine took the initiative, "Squall had a talk with the Headmaster, and he arranged things with Galbadia and Esthar."

Eadig's eyes snapped over to briefly rest on Irvine, "Squall did all that for me?" He asked, wonder in his voice.

"I'm not forgiving you for what you did," Squall interrupted quickly, "not yet, at least. But I think your recent actions prove you deserve a second chance. As long as you stay on the right side of the law, you should be free of your charges in no time."

"Squall…" Eadig looked back down at the floor, finding it as interesting as Squall had before, "Thank you."

Squall nodded, professionalism over taking him now that that was out of the way. "There's still a matter of where to put you that's up in the air, have any ideas?"

Eadig shook his head, "I'm just thankful I'll be getting out of here. Do you have any suggestions?"

Squall paused, he did, actually, he was hesitant to bring them up, though. At length he decided he might as well, "Actually, I did have something in mind." Irvine and Eadig both turned their heads to look at him. "Esthar has an advanced research institution, well known around the world for the amazing inventions they produce under the orders of Dr. Odine." Eadig nodded, he had, of course, heard of the doctor before. "You have a good mind for that kind of stuff, you could intern under him for your parole."

Eadig gave his hesitant friend a smile, "That sounds like a great idea, Squall."

Squall gave him a small smile back and nodded at the decision, "I'll go tell the others."

"Squall," Eadig interrupted, stopping the SeeD just before he opened the door, "thanks for everything. I hope you find the kind of life you're looking for."

Squall continued out the door without a word of acknowledgment, Irvine one step behind him.

* * *

"Rinoa, Take this ring as a sign of my love and fidelity," he recited, gently slipping the ring over the woman's slender finger. His hand was joined together with hers. 

"In so much as Squall and Rinoa have consented together in holy wedlock, and have witnessed the same before this company, having given and pledged their troth, each to the other, and having declared same by the giving and receiving of a ring," Cid spoke loudly and proudly, his eyes crinkled with joy as he did so in the gathered company, "I pronounce that they are now husband and wife."

He turned his attention predominantly to the couple, "I ask you now to seal the promises you have made with each other this day with a kiss."

Squall obliged, his face turning red—he wasn't one to show such romantic displays in public. It was a relatively quick kiss, and Rinoa smiled across at him encouragingly.

"Ladies and gentlemen," Cid continued, looking again at the small gathering, "I present to you Mr. and Mrs. Leonhart."

The gathered company stood and clapped, and Squall grinned broadly at his wife. She smiled back mischievously, and then pulled him in for another kiss.

* * *

**_Epilogue _**

Squall turned the envelope over in his hands, a slight frown adorning his face. It looked innocent enough, but he could never be too careful. As an international figure—whether he liked to admit it or not—threats to his livelihood had been made more than once. He had no desire to have a repeat of his _last_ adventure.

Finding nothing wrong with the plane envelope, Squall opened it carefully, and slipped the piece of paper out. He unfolded it to look at the letters, scribbled over the page in a sloppy, but familiar, print.

"_Dear Squall,"_

It started, Squall reading over the words even as he tried to pin a face with the writing.

"_I heard what you did for Eadig, I thank you for that."_

Squall immediately knew who it was from. There was only one person it could be from, in his mind.

"_I also heard he apologized for what happened between us. I hope he didn't do so for me, as well. I'm not sorry at all. It was probably the best thing I've ever done—getting to know you. Although, I guess I should apologize for the means we used to do so… Sorry for all that torture stuff._

"_You might be happy to learn I've found a nice little town to settle down in—you're a SeeD again, so I won't tell you where. The people here are decent enough folk, though I have a feeling that if I let my guard down they'd just as soon stab me in the back. But that's just what you get now days._

"_Anyway, I've got a job in a flower shop down here—Don't You Dare Laugh, Squall—the owner is getting old and needed some help looking after the place, she reminds me of my grandmother. So, if you're ever in need of flowers, look me up! I'm sure you'll find me soon enough, and I won't hold it against you if you bring me in, I guess I kind of deserve a punishment for what I've done._

"_All I'm really trying to say, I guess, is thanks. We don't deserve your mercy, but thanks for sparing Eadig. You're a real friend, Squall._

"_--Deman Beorn"_

Squall's lips curled up slightly in a smile. He already had a pretty good idea as to where the other man was, but he wasn't going to look for him. Let him be as long as he isn't bothering anyone.

"Squall?" Squall glanced across at Rinoa, who was looking at him curiously with large brown eyes that shone happily just to be near him, his smile didn't fade. "What is it?"

"Nothing," Squall answered, folding the paper again and sliding it into the inside pocket of his jacket as she came over to him, "It's not important."


End file.
